Why is dr kent hovind in jail

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What We're Monitoring. About NCSE. Our History. Our People. Our Financials. Annual Reports. Media Center. Our Partners. Need a Speaker? Our Impact. Our Research. Tax protesters tend to take add a lot of complications to the simple elements of basic compliance and argue that the sixteenth amendment didn't really pass or wages are not income or a host of other things.

They will maintain that most of us are deceived into paying an income tax that is not really applicable to us. Now, in order, to believe those things in the face of an overwhelming number of court decisions that say they are wrong, you have to believe in a conspiracy that includes pretty much the entire federal judiciary.

As noted above, conspiracies of that magnitude are perfectly plausible to Kent Hovind and his supporters. Kent Hovind adamantly maintains that he is not a "tax protester". I have some issues with that. If you go to the flagship website of his supporters FreeKent you can follow the links to Proof Number one " Letters from professionals absolve Kent Hovind from all wrong-doing ". The first letter is from Kent to one of the professionals and starts with:.

The responses are something of potpourri of tax protester arguments , that have been ruled by courts to be frivolous. As Hovindicators often correctly point out Kent Hovind was not convicted of tax evasions, so the letters, which were clearly meant to set up what is called a Cheek defense , really have little to do with what he was convicted of.

A bit after the two minute mark Kent says that everybody should follow the law including the government and that he has not filed in 28 years and if there is a law that requires filing, he would like to see it. The discussion that follows has nothing to do with his status as a minister and his vow of poverty. A bit past the six minute mark he launches into the explanation as to why trading services for money is not "income". At , he gives a qualified plug to Irwin Schiff, who may well have originated many of the arguments used by, for lack of a better term, tax protesters.

Irwin Schiff is also in federal prison. Kent Hovind's supporters are waging an intense social media campaign on his behalf. There are regular calls, more than daily lately, from Kent and his co-defendant Paul John Hansen and weekly conference call meetings of his supporters along with other material. Hovindicators are hoping to have a stronger turn-out at the upcoming trial than they did at the first.

They have gotten a good amount of attention in alternative Christian right wing media including Wall Builders and Alex Jones.

They are frustrated that they have not gotten closer to the mainstream and that they are not receiving much support from other creationists and evangelicals particularly Baptist churches in Pensacola. The Hovindicators believe that Kent Hovind should not only be acquitted on the current charges, but also have his previous conviction reversed.

They tend to cast the matter as the forces of light against the forces of darkness and seem to believe that the people running Kent Hovind's prosecution are altogether wicked and that negative coverage is the result of paid disinformation agents working for the New World Order or something like that.

Paul John Hansen. The arguments that are brought forth in defense of Kent Hovind are multifarious and include things like Jo Hovind not being allowed to put on a robe when she was arrested, a prosecutor who committed suicide when arrested as a pedophile and Judge Margaret Casey Rodgers not allowing open Bibles in the courtroom during the trial.

Paul John Hansen's defense is much more focused. In the second trial he intends to represent himself although that is not the way he puts it and will argue that the court does not have jurisdiction over him. It is a very interesting argument and I hope you will be patient as I quote the part of the Constitution that is relevant. It is in Section 8 where Congress is given the power. To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District not exceeding ten Miles square as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings;.

In Hansen's view the District of Columbia and those forts and arsenal are the only places where federal statute law rules unless you enter into a contract with the federal government.

They have all sorts of ways to trick you into that, but he is wise to them. The main problem with Hansen's argument is that that clause is followed by the word "And" which is followed by. To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

Among those other powers, for example, is the power to regulate interstate commerce. I think that the bottom line is that the fact that Congress has exclusive jurisdiction in some places does not mean that it has no jurisdiction in others, but we'll see how that goes.

The Hovindicators are right that the treatment of Kent Hovind has been harsh, particularly this second set of charges. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan.

Bruce left the ministry in , and in he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist. You can email Bruce via the Contact Form. Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

As reported a couple of days ago over at The Friendly Atheist, Hovind may not have been legally married to Lincoln. Perhaps Hovind will be headed back to the slammer. All seem angry, bitter, and desperately unhappy, albeit many have subsidised lifestyles that are off the scale for most of us. I suspect that underlying it is the constant need to have to appear to live up to a public perception that is so divorced from reality.

Living a lie in short. Kent Hovind is oblivious to the two facts of life: death and taxes. As a Christian he denies the former, as a loony tax protestor he tried to avoid the latter.

I know his children begged him to stop the tax protesting b. His first wife spent a year in prison and only divorced him when he got out because he was still going to be a tax protestor His obstinance no doubt got him a stiff sentence losing about 10 years of his freedom. He is no longer on probation and no one will care if he beats up his girlfriend. Amazing, I wrote about this at my theoarch website.