After 3 hours of deliberation, the jury found Kent Hovind and his wife GUILTY of tax fraud.
Goodbye, ‘Dr’ Dino.
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
After 3 hours of deliberation, the jury found Kent Hovind and his wife GUILTY of tax fraud.
Goodbye, ‘Dr’ Dino.
Coturnix finds a blog that is reviewing Seed magazine in a multi-part series. He seems pretty cool with it so far, but he hasn’t reached that review of mine at the end of the last issue yet, though.
I know it sounds so crass, since Seed Media is hosting this site, but it really is a good magazine—I eyeball it every month with some trepidation, for fear it might go the Omni/Wired route of hyping widgets, but it’s holding my interest every time. There’s a real kicker of a testimonial to it, that I just learned about the other day:
My Mom subscribes to it.
Whoa. You know it’s gotta be good. She’s an intelligent and discriminating lady, you know.
As if you don’t get enough of this guy PZ Myers on Pharyngula, now there’s an interview with me up on Genetics and Health.
Eh, I don’t think I really believe this, but since South Park thinks its funny to portray Richard Dawkins as a tasteless sodomite, it seems only fair to mention that the joke might have stung more if it had been applied to Ted Haggard.
A gay man and admitted male escort claims he has had an ongoing sexual relationship with a well-known Evangelical pastor from Colorado Springs.
So far, it’s nothing but innuendo and accusation, though. I have to say that even if it were true, it would not be a reason to oppose Haggard, and I’d actually be rather disappointed—it would immediately move the debate from the substance of the danger of evangelical nonsense to wailing about hypocrisy and homosexuality, exactly the kind of complaint that plays right into the hands of the sanctimonious Religious Right.
Besides, look at that face. He reminds me of that horndog, Steve Stifler.
Minnesotans have to choose between Mike Hatch (D) and Tim Pawlenty (R) for governor next week, and someone has noticed that Pawlenty ads have been lacking in substance…so they put together a helpful parody. I don’t know, though—this could be a winning issue for Hatch. That kitten in the final frames sure looks tasty.
There will be a wrap-up of the atheist symbol discussion tomorrow—I’ll put up a post with the most popular options and invite people to defend them—but until then, savor this amusing artwork.
(No, it’s not a serious contender, it’s just funny!)
The Hovind court case will be having final arguments today, but it’s pretty much over.
Defense lawyers for Kent and Jo Hovind rested their case on Wednesday without presenting evidence or calling witnesses. Closing arguments are scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. today. The Hovinds’ fate then will be in the hands of the 12-person jury.
I wouldn’t lay odds on the outcome of this trial—evangelical Christians will automatically get a pass by many jurors. He’s such a nice man, after all, and he’s just doing the work of the Lord. I’d bet, though, that he won’t get the full penalty.
If found guilty, Kent Hovind faces a maximum of 288 years in prison, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Heldmyer.
His wife, Jo Hovind, faces up to 225 years. Her charges include aiding and abetting her husband with 44 counts of evading bank-reporting requirements.
On the other hand, the Hovind’s lawyer seemed to think that the best defense is no defense at all.
After Wednesday’s session, Richey said there was no need for a defense.
“I don’t believe the government met its burden,” Richey said. “The government has to prove that (Kent Hovind) knew he had a duty under the law to pay those taxes.”
Hmmm. The testimony shows that Hovind was a man obsessed with his purported privileges as a man of God to escape taxation, he gives talks on his version of tax law, he and his wife were careful to always withdraw sums just under what would require reporting by the bank, and we’re supposed to believe that he was simply a blank-eyed, dumb-as-a-stick dullard who didn’t know what taxes were? Maybe the defense should have been a presentation of his views on evolution. That would have supported their defense that Kent Hovind is an ignorant moron just fine.
Well, I thought I was done with Mike S. Adams, but I keep getting sucked back in. I was asked by the University Register, our weekly campus newspaper, to submit an editorial on Adams’ talk last week. “Sure,” I said, and whipped out eleven hundred words. You can read them in situ in the online edition of the Register, or you can look below the fold.
I caught most of South Park tonight, and it certainly was topical: it wasn’t so much about evolution as it was RIchard Dawkins and The God Delusion. Unfortunately, as South Park seems to do whenever I see it, there wasn’t much thought behind it at all. Richard Dawkins is made to have sex with Mr Garrison, there’s something about intelligent sea otters, and a future world where everyone is an atheist and different factions are having a war. Trey Parker and Matt Stone aren’t exactly masters of subtlety, I’m afraid, and it was their usual frenetic mish-mash.
Oh, well. It’s a two-parter, so there’ll be more gay/transexual sex-as-some-kind-of-satire next week. I didn’t see much to trigger either outrage or interest this time, so I suspect I’ll miss it.
Goosing the Antithesis has Two Open Challenges for Theists—believers, please do try to address them.
