Kent Hovind's resume derived from public documents

This a a short examination of creationist Kent Hovind's phony "Doctorate," and claims of being a "high school science teacher for 15 years." Between 1976 and 1989, Hovind was the "teacher" of unaccredited church schools he often started himself. Plus, he rarely lasted long even then. I am linking this from "Big Daddy is Dead," in recognition that Hovind is essentially cited as a co-author of "Big Daddy." and nearly all of the pseudoscience found there is referenced to Hovind's video "seminars."

Hovind opens his public presentations, videos, and weirdly, his bogus dissertation with nearly the same words every time, "Hello, my name is Kent Hovind. I am a creation/science evangelist. I live in Pensacola, Florida. I have been a high school science teacher since 1976." He added "I have a doctorate in Education," in 1991.

Kent Hovind's Teaching Experience

Recorded in Public Records 08/10/2005 at 1:30 PM OR Book Page 878, Instrument #2005406964, Ernie Less Magaha, Clerk of the Circuit Court Escambia County, FL.


"In 1972 I transferred to Midwestern Baptist College, in Pontiac, Michigan." Midwestern Baptist College is an unaccredited Bible school.

"I completed by (sic) Bachelor of Religious Education at Midwestern in 1974" Ordained by Emmanuel Baptist Church in Pontiac, Michigan, May 25, 1974.

Bethel Baptist Academy, Pekin, Illinios [1976-1978]
"I returned to Pekin, Illinois and became Assistant Pastor of Bethel Baptist Church. In 1976 the Pastor resigned and I was voted Pastor (Bethel Baptist Church). My first accomplishment as Pastor was to start a Christian school, Bethel Baptist Academy."

Faith Baptist Academy, Bourbonnais, Illinois [1978-1981]
"In 1978 my family and I moved to Bourbonais, Illinois, where I continued to minister for the Lord as a teacher."

Longview Christian Academy and Texas Baptist College, Longview, Texas [1981-1985]
"1981 we moved to Longview, Texas, where I took position teaching science and math at Longview Christian Academy and at Texas Baptist College." Today, LCA is a K-5 - 12th grade school that uses A Beka creationist curriculum. The entirety of "Texas Baptist College" is a single building that houses the dormitories, classrooms, library (if any), and laundry. Married students are forced to enroll their children in the unaccredited "Christian Academy."

Calvary Baptist Christian School, Fairfield, California [1986-1989]
"... we moved the family to Fairfield, California, where I became Assistant Pastor and principal at Calvary Baptist Christian School as well as a science teacher." This school has a current enrollment Pre-kinder to 12th grade of 59 students. The most students they ever had was 149. EVER!

East Hill Christian School, Pensacola, Florida [1989-?]

"In 1989, I took a vow of poverty and to commit all my resources to spreading the word of God and truth about God’s hand in creation. That event gave birth to Creation Science Evangelism."

Hovind went on to boast that he was soon on the road giving lectures, sermons, and debates nearly full-time. Hovind verbally amended his biography in several videos recorded in the early 2000s to add 16 years after 1989 as a full time evangelist. In his 1991 "dissertation," Hovind claimed to be making 400 creationism presentations to schools and churches around the nation. He filed a fraudulent bankruptcy petition in 1996 claiming to have been a full time evangelist since 1989. 1976 to 1989 (even allowing him the sham title of "science teacher") is not 15 years.

Kent Hovind's "Doctorate"

Hovind claims a doctorate in "Christian Education." Hovind's dissertation is a bad joke written at a low high school grammar and vocabulary level. This vacuous work was sold to Hovind from "Patriot University," an unaccredited mail order degree shop.

In fact, Patriot U. has had to publish the following disclaimer regarding their "degrees."

DISCLAIMER

ACI accreditation (Accrediting Commission International which is as phony as Patriot U. and has been successfully sued for fraud) is not to be confused with regional accreditation which is governed by the U.S. Department of Education. A school or employer which requires a regionally accredited degree will likely not accept a non-governmentally accredited degree. Patriot Bible University nor ACI are responsible for a student's employability.

Student Advisory:

1. PBU's accreditation may or may not allow you to receive transfer credits to a secular school. If you are seeking a secular education degree, you would be best served to attend a secular institution. We grant Bible and religious degrees. If you hope to apply your Bible degree towards a secular degree at some time later on, the PBU courses and degrees are not likely to be fully applicable.

If you are going to seek employment with a particular church denomination or wish to transfer to a certain Christian college or university, you might confer with them first. Please consider what YOUR educational goals are.

2. A Patriot Bible University degree is recognized by many churches and ministry organizations. It will demonstrate to employers a higher level of study through the attainment of a degree. We have trained thousands of students during the last 30 years.

3. PBU's accreditation with this agency is a religious non-governmental accreditation, rather than secular - voluntary, rather than mandatory. The laws of Colorado give us the authority to grant religious degrees. The authority to grant degrees comes from the individual State, not the school's accrediting agency.

4. ACI monitors educational and religious standards for PBU, and their accreditation is accepted by many religious organizations. However, this accreditation would not be accepted by some secular organizations, as ACI is not recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as one of the seven official regional accrediting agencies.

This non-recognition may have some implications that include, but are not limited to:

1. Patriot Bible University is not eligible to participate in the Federal Student Loan/Financial Aid program.
2. Patriot Bible University is not authorized to accept the GI Bill.
3. Patriot Bible University is unable to guarantee acceptance of its degrees in other postsecondary institutions, except those also accredited by ACI
4. Corporations are not required to recognize degrees from Patriot Bible University.
(down loaded on 8 April, 2013 from Patriot U.'s website).

I downloaded Hovind's "dissertation" from wikileaks. To anyone familiar with Hovind's videos, the text will be very familiar. It is in most ways a transtript of Hovind's standard presentations. I am always impressed by how consistantly bad it is.

Kent Hovind's Current Career

Kent Hovind, Federal Prisoner Register number 06452-017, began serving a ten-year prison sentence in 2007 following his convition on 12 tax fraud offenses, one count of obstructing federal agents, and 45 counts of illegally structuring cash transactions. He is scheduled for release from prison on August 11, 2015 after serving the minimum allowed portion of his 10 year sentence. If you have a taste for court documents, this court's reply (PDF) to a petition filed by Jo (Mrs. Kent) Hovind gives the business structure of Kent Hovind's fortune.

Obviously Kent Hovind's account of his "doctorate" and "15 years teaching high school science" are as bogus as his creationism, and tax filings. As the courts found repeatedly, the numbers don't add up.

A big frustration

I have said for years that I would not get sucked into the global warming debate. Warming is real. It is likely to end the current global civilization, to the extent one can say there is a global civilization.

But, there is only so many hours in a day to deal with ignorant assholes.

But this, 2010 – where does it fit in the warmest year list? is just too much.

Not just the stupidity of climate change denialism, but Easterbrook has manipulated data, and just plain lies as much as any creationist ever did. Even the recently departed Duane "Galloping" Gish would have respected this pile of bullshit.

The main issues are with Easterbrook's selective and dishonest manipulations of data. The main problem I have is in using graphic software to illustrate his lies. But I will keep working on it.

GermsGermsGerms

There is the frequent assertion that evolutionary biology is wrong because.... well, just because. Mostly because creationists don't like it, they invent a lot of absurd objections, one of them that there is a difference between a "scientific theory," and a "scientific law." Now this is an ignorant and silly thing to say, but it seems to be emotionally gratifying to creationists. In public debates, the pro-science advocate commonly replies that "Evoluiton is as well established as the "Theory" of gravity, or the Germ Theory of Disease."


Of the two, I think that the germ theory is a far better example, because "germ theory" is in fact weaker than evolution. Consider that "germs" are very far from the cause of all medical diseases. Plus, there are typically individuals with sub-clinical infections, and in cross-species transmissions, there are wild-type reservoirs. Even expanding the notion of "germs" to any infectious agent- nematodes, protozoa, yeast, fungal, bacterial, viral, or prions- there are still major and common diseases that are caused by totally different agents. Take for example environmental toxins. Arsenic in ground water, selenium in "loco weed," particulate carbon, or asbestos are all inorganic causes of serious, and common diseases. Traumatic injuries, malnutrition, and genetic accidents are leading causes of death today. Ironically, over eating is gaining in industrial nations as a cause of death. These events are exceeding the deaths caused by infection, although they may have been more evenly matched with infectious disease prior to the development of antibiotics.

We enfold all of these etiological factors in medical practice, and theory. The parallel to evolutionary theory is fine grained. Not all mutations are positive, not all negative mutations are eliminated. Even positive mutations are not necessarily spread through-out a population if they are beneficial. The pace of evolutionary change can be rapid like an epidemic, or very slow and environmentally conditioned like secondary hypertension, or trace-element poisoning. A particular mutation can be beneficial in one habitat to one sort of organism, and lethal in another. And, all of life on earth has been profoundly altered by shear accidents. Meteors smashing into the planet are not conditions that are adapted to, or predictable.

(Random thoughts waiting for the truck to get fixed).

This is too good to miss

I have recently written a brief comment on the ENCODE project, and the great joy the creationists have taken with their overstated "product."

Here is the fully orchestrated four part harmony exposure of the gross errors of fact and logic made by the ENCODE project leaders. This is how real science works. Free download PDF: "On the immortality of television sets: “function” in the human genome according to the evolution-free gospel of ENCODE."

"The ENCODE results were predicted by one of its authors to necessitate the rewriting of textbooks. We agree, many textbooks dealing with marketing, mass-media hype, and public relations may well have to be rewritten." Downloaded from http://gbe.oxfordjournals.org/ February 24, 2013.

I must give love to any scientific paper that can open with Frank Zappa, "Data is not information, information is not knowledge, knowledge is not wisdom, wisdom is not truth," —Robert Royar (1994) paraphrasing Frank Zappa’s (1979) anadiplosis.

This came over the transom from a Christian site:

Hello
i am Christiana by name a young pretty girl is my pleasure to meet you,so
how are you doing i hope all is well with you.I come across your profile today
in this site them i decided to contact you,i want us to have a good
relationship together if you do not mind i will like you to E-mail me at my private
Address(christ_lugard@yahoo.com.sg)so that i can tell you more about my self and my photo.i will be waiting for your mail soon,because i have something very important to tell you,thank you?

Do I play the fool, or just flag the come-on?

While I have been busy, I came across Chris Rodda

A teahadist creationist named Linda Athens has been writing extremist bullshit for the Kingman, Az "Daily Miner." Here is an example. I had never run head on into a follower of the revisionist "historian" David Barton before, and I was rushing off to start a major debunking. After a very interesting week or two, I found the work done by Chris Rodda. She saved me from any further need to debunk Barton. Her website is Liars for Jesus, which is also the title of her book debunking Barton. She has posted a slew of short YouTube videos well worth the time spent.


David Barton Lies About Chris Rodda - Part 1

Winter fishing

I have maintained some psychic equilibrium by fishing. Even the winter bite has been fairly good, especially when we have good bait.

The fish went back into the ocean, and the $135 jackpot went to the crew of the Sum Fun out of Dana Point Wharf.

Ms. Chatman goes balistically stupid

She watched the propaganda film, "Expelled." And because we know Ms. Chatman so well, her tiny brain predictably exploded.

For the reality based world's opinions on "Expelled," see Expelled Exposed. And, I egotistically hope you enjoy my article on Expelled for the National Center for Science Education, Why Re-Invent the Crystal?

We had a great day fishing

Dec. 31, 2012 aboard the Clemente out of Dana Warf.

In other news, life goes on.


Best Wishes for a Happy New Year!

By the way, I added a new post to Big Daddy is Dead

I am not an astrophysicist, but I don't need to be one.

I have my news feed tuned to show articles with any connection to evolution, creationism, science education, and a half-dozen other tags. In the Dec. 23, 2012 trawl there was this gem by the "Reverend" Michael Bresciani. A Google search failed to show any reason this guy should be revered for anything. He claims to be a Prophet of God Almighty, and has pages of prophecies. I read a few. As far as I can tell he is about as successful, and specific as the daily horoscopes on newspaper comic pages.

Judging from his, Christmas Speaks to the Evolutionist, this guy has a low high school reading ability. Or, he is possibly really smart, and has a huge scam working. His screed was reposted in a far-right on-line "journal."

The only "science" in this lump of creatocrap was a garbled remark,

The Big Bang theory recently took a big bang itself at the discovery of a galaxy that is almost all black holes according to scientists at the University of Texas in Austin. The discovery punches some serious black holes in the assumption that the universe developed spontaneously without outside or intelligent intervention.

This is only one of hundreds of new discoveries made by creation scientists in the last few decades that have loaded a preponderance of proof onto the side of intelligent design. So why aren’t evolutionists taking a look see?

The actual science was discussed Here: in the University of Texas press release. The original paper was published in Nature on the 28th of November this year, "An over-massive black hole in the compact lenticular galaxy NGC 1277." There was also a brief news item in the same issue.

The Creatocrap
"a galaxy that is almost all black holes"

The Facts
There is only one "Black Hole" in any known Galaxy. There is only one core Black Hole in galaxy NGC 1277, the subject of this idiots remarks (as if he knew it). *Clarification added March 16, 2013: There is only a single core black hole in elliptical galaxies like the Milky Way, or NGC 1277. Small black holes can form in super novas of very massive stars.

The Facts
There is no known galaxy that is "almost" all Black Holes. Even galaxy NGC 1277 which this fool is yammering about, has a Black Hole that is only 14% of the mass of the galaxy. Galaxy NGC 1277 is actually small, only 1/10th the size the Milky Way.

The Creatocrap
The discovery punches some serious black holes in the assumption that the universe developed spontaneously without outside or intelligent intervention.

The Facts
This discovery does not challenge any origin of the universe theories- it is about the evolution of galaxies. This observation cannot suggest any form of "intelligent intervention."

The Facts
It merely challenges a single idea about the ratio of Black Hole mass to galaxy mass, and how that related to the formation of new stars.

The Creatocrap
This is only one of hundreds of new discoveries made by creation scientists

The Facts
This was not a discovery made by "creation scientists." It isn't even that new. (See below)

Just a year ago, Nature also published a news item, "Record-breaking black holes fill a cosmic gap: Largest black holes ever discovered shed light on the early Universe" (06 December 2011). The original article was, "Two ten-billion-solar-mass black holes at the centers of giant elliptical galaxies" Nature
480, 215–218 (08 December 2011).