"Dr" Kent Hovind arrested

[Darth Wong]

Anybody ever heard of Kent Hovind? The charlatan who calls himself "Dr. Dino" and parades a doctorate that he got from an unaccredited diploma mill? He has a big reward (I think it's $250000) offered on his website for anyone who can produce evidence of evolution (which he defines differently than the biology textbook definition, thus making it impossible to satisfy his demand).

Anyway, I've had morons E-mailing me on my anti-creationist website for years challenging to take up Hovind's rigged challenge, and I've been telling them for years that he's a pathological liar and a crook. Well, it looks like the IRS has figured that out too:

http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/...EWS01/60713013

Eat it, Hovind. You're going to jail for tax evasion. Buh-bye.

[rez]

I had never heard of this man.

Would you care to elaborate on his challenge for us?

[Darth Wong]

http://www.drdino.com/

Let's just say that like many of the major creationist "authorities", his website is a combination of preaching and marketing, based on the assumption (sadly true for a lot of the population) that people will judge the credibility of a message by the slickness of the website rather than the legitimacy of its research credentials and peer review status.

[Sam]

He has also been dubbed 'arch idiot' in some circles, a title well deserved.

For those who aren't familiar with him, I'll show you.

You can see his videos here.
You can read his wiki here.

This guy is a real piece of work, he once said that he had an IQ of 160, has a PhD in education, and has taught high school science for, I think it was 15 years. His degree is actually in christian education by the way, it's very very different from education and it is illegal to present false credentials, not that he will get done for it.

Despite his alleged IQ of 160 and 15 years of science teaching, he stated on television (here, about 40 seconds into the video), "monkeys are still having babies, why don't they have another human today?". His total inability to grasp a scientific concept as simple as evolution theory leads me to believe that he truly is a borderline retard. He thinks that big bang theory states that "nothing exploded and created everything", and that evolution theory states that humans came from rocks and monkeys.

One of his most dishonest tactics is to establish intellectual authority over his audiences with a quick bit of dick waving, and then use that authority to present anything he wants as a given fact. I have seen him do this by explaining basic trigonometry, the inverse square law (which he called the 'invert square law'), or some other truly childishly simple subject, and once he has done this, his audiences lap up anything and everything he says without question.

I might come across here as 'foaming at the mouth', but I have spent many years of my life studying lots of stuff which he really has no clue about, and to see him earning millions of dollars from a lie while totally degrading some of the most brilliant minds the world has ever known, makes me sick in the stomach.

[Mathias]

He has also been dubbed 'arch idiot' in some circles, a title well deserved.

A fitting title indeed, but unfortunately it is, as you stated, only in some circles that title has been given to him. There are those who believe him, they read what he says and just take it for granted that its true and dont bother to do alittle research for themself or listening to what others has to say. Too bad there isnt any regulations on what kind of lies you can defile the internett with.

[Sam]

A fitting title indeed, but unfortunately it is, as you stated, only in some circles that title has been given to him. There are those who believe him, they read what he says and just take it for granted that its true and dont bother to do alittle research for themself or listening to what others has to say. Too bad there isnt any regulations on what kind of lies you can defile the internett with.

Indeed. As Darth mentioned, his audience is just happy to be told what they want to hear, and if it's being said by a guy in a suit with a shiny PhD attached to his name, it makes it much much more reassuring.

Anyway, if he wants to prove that he is right, he should gather evidence. All he does is attack science. What evidence does he have to support his claims?

Come to think of it, the only physical evidence I can recall him mentioning are the long since falsified dinosaur and human footprints. The rest of his arguments are mostly appeals to ridicule, bible quotes, and strawmen, among various other fallacies.

[Kanaric]

Good, tired of theses lying "scientists" who are only tools of corrupt politicians.

[Darth Wong]

All those Bible quotes on his website, and he seems to have missed the "give to Caesar what is Caesar's" part.

PS. The article is actually quite short, so I'll just quote it:

A Pensacola evangelist was arrested Thursday and indicted in federal court on 58 charges that include income tax evasion, making threats against investigators and filing false complaints against Internal Revenue Service agents.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Miles Davis handed down the indictment against Kent Hovind, who operated a creationist theme park Dinosaur Adventure Land, off Old Palafox Road.

Hovind’s wife, Jo Hovind, was also indicted on 44 of the counts and appeared in court alongside her husband.

Arraignment for the Hovinds is scheduled for2 p.m. Monday. The couple was released pending their trial but are not allowed to travel outside the Northern District of Florida.

Not only did he commit tax evasion but he also threatened federal investigators!

[Gaidin]

I'm either blind or stupid...but where is the challenge itself. I'm curious enough to read it itself and I cannot find it.

[Darth Wong]

I'll be damned; I can't find it either. He's really changed his website a lot over the years. It used to have a big challenge splashed all over the front page. In any case, it used to say this:

I have a standing offer of $250,000 to anyone who can give any empirical evidence (scientific proof) for evolution. My $250,000 offer demonstrates that the hypothesis of evolution is nothing more than a religious belief.

He went on to say:

In order to collect the money you must 'Prove beyond reasonable doubt that the process of evolution (The universe came into being by itself by purely natural processes (known as evolution) so that no appeal to the supernatural is needed.) is the only possible way the observed phenomena (the universe, planets, life and mankind) could have come into existence.' If you want everyone to pay for this silly theory of evolution to be taught then the burden of proof is on you.

One could go blue in the face listing reasons why his challenge is obviously rigged, such as the fact that we're supposed to prove that the universe came into being through evolution (evolution has absolutely nothing to do with the formation of the universe, the solar system, or even the Earth), or the fact that we must prove that any other explanation is impossible rather than merely being completely useless, unscientific, or unfounded.

I wonder if he took the challenge off for some reason, or if it's just buried somewhere in his new-look website.

[Kanaric]

Just shows how "respectable" the scientists in his area are. This isn't the only case, their are quite a few.

[Darth Wong]

Just shows how "respectable" the scientists in his area are. This isn't the only case, their are quite a few.

Indeed, the "creation science" community is nothing more than a giant scam. Most of the big names are just hucksters who make millions selling books and tapes and other merchandise to the people who are just happy to have someone tell them what they want to hear. A majority of them either have no credentials, fake credentials (like Hovind's), or irrelevant credentials (like particle physicists attacking evolution theory which is a biologist's domain). Dr. Behe is the only one I can think of who has legitimate and relevant credentials, and he exposed himself for what he is at the recent trial in Dover PA where he admitted that the only way to describe "intelligent design" as a science was to expand the definition of science so broadly that it includes astrology and tarot card reading.

[Gwendylyn]

It was buried.
http://www.drdino.com/articles.php?spec=67

Google advence search ftw.

EDIT: side comment, is his the same creationist museum that was shut down for failing to get a building permit a while ago?

[the Eternal Cocoon]

what the hell? his definition of evolution is screwed up:

Evolution is presented in our public school textbooks as a process that:

1. Brought time, space, and matter into existence from nothing.
2. Organized that matter into the galaxies, stars, and at least nine planets around the sun. (This process is often referred to as cosmic evolution.)
3. Created the life that exists on at least one of those planets from nonliving matter (chemical evolution).
4. Caused the living creatures to be capable of and interested in reproducing themselves.
5. Caused that first life form to spontaneously diversify into different forms of living things, such as the plants and animals on the earth today (biological evolution).

evolution created the universe from nothing? spontantuos diversification? what the hell? what evolutionist says that the first life form spontaneously diversified into diffrent species, The whole point of evolution is to explain how it was a slow adn graduel change.this isnt at all what evolution is or how they teach evolution in school as he claims.

[Ahiga]

So according to him, evolution brought time, space, and matter into existence from Nothing.

Isn't that what God did, according to some?

[Gaidin]

He's cramming twenty-odd scientific theories, each meant to explain totally differetn phenomena, down into one and slapping a nifty word onto it that happens to be the same as one of the theories.

Man thats...stupid.

[LSJ]

That guy really annoys me. He tries to make us believe that evolution has no base, even with all the evidence. He tries to discredit the existance of evidence by asking rediculous unanswerable questions.
We cannot win his money because the universe was not created through evolution.
Its like trying to prove theories of electromagnetism through gravity. Its just impossible...

I never liked the poser, and I don't care that he went to jail: its his problem.

I can become a doctor too. I can study any science-related subject and get a PhD. Its so broad that it is rather meaningless.

Anyway, if he wants to prove that he is right, he should gather evidence. All he does is attack science. What evidence does he have to support his claims?

[Marcus Scaurus]

Why is he called 'Dr. Dino'? Because of his small brains?

[Mathias]

Why is he called 'Dr. Dino'? Because of his small brains?

Indeed, this is his brain:

Seriously though, Im not sure why he is called that, I dont know so much about him.

[Darth Wong]

Seriously though, Im not sure why he is called that, I dont know so much about him.

He made up his own nickname, based on his claim to be a doctor (based on a doctorate he got from an unaccredited diploma mill) and his particular fascination with creationist dinosaur theories. To make a long story short, he believes that dinosaurs lived recently and coexisted with man, as in "The Flintstones". Hence, he called himself "Dr Dino".