wserra wrote:. wrote:His adherents and detractors seem to feel the need to inform the world every time he or one of his doofus followers burps up any fatuity. Which are myriad and incessant.
Duke2Earl wrote:I am however also puzzled by the fascination with his situation that seems to far exceed the coverage of any other protester ever
Famspear wrote:OK, so it's obvious that I'm not the only one who has been having these kinds of thoughts.
No, you aren't. On my part, though, the "thoughts" don't go past simple feedback from a reader. Nearly 800 posts in 16 months is a lot of posts. Perhaps the frequent posters might consider my own reaction, especially when I have limited time (which is most of the time): "Oh, it's just more minutiae about Hovind", followed by the "mark topics read" button.
Well, this is something that I have pointed out several times over the years, and I know that at least on one occasion "." responded in like kind to this situation. The only reason why Hovind has been portrayed here as the worst of the worst tax protesters (he pales in comparison to Schiff, Hendrickson, Larken Rose, etc.) is because of one person: Paths of The Sea.
Although PotS coyly describes this attachment to Hovind as his "hobby", there is a better term for it. Let me offer "obsession." Why PotS is obsessed with Hovind I have no idea or insight. But given the lengths that PotS has gone to keep the memory of Hovind alive and current when under normal conditions his thread would have sunk (digitally) into 5 feet of archives, only can lead one to conclude that PotS has driven this stake into the ground and broken it off, has flogged this dead horse until there is only a dull and faint red stain on the ground, has insisted that this Norwegian Blue has lovely plumage when the rest of us can see that it has ceased to be a parrot. To whit:
(1) Cross-posting to other threads that were not related at all to Hovind in attempt to hijack the thread or at least create more traffic to lead back to his own Hovind thread
(2) On other web forums (as an example Peter J Reilly's blog on Forbes) when the subject of the day was focused on Schiff. You will find posts by a rlbaty, which is PotS alternate ID there on the Forbes page.
(3) Creating multiple threads on Hovind here, sometimes on the same day - until the admins stepped in and consolidated the whole sodden mess into one pile.
(4) Asking that other Quatloosians to attend Hovind's trial(s) so that he could get a report on what was happening each day that court was held. His explanation when asked why he didn't go instead since he seemed to be the only person interested in Hovind? It was too far away and he couldn't justify the expense, but in his view point it was a very important trial and Quatloos should be covering it - regardless of the expense, it would seem.
(5) Only creating and posting to threads about Hovind. This has, until lately, pretty much been his M.O. since day one. He did create one thread about a husband and wife tax evader who had fled to South America in an effort to prevent collection of their taxes. And there have been several threads in the last few months for other individuals, but then again, these are people either defending or associated with Hovind. You will have to look far and wide to find a post by PotS that has no connection to Hovind.
PotS has not always been the gracious sort in regards to his obsession with Hovind and can get quite rude when confronted over some issue where he believes he knows more than the other person. I find it next to preposterous that given PotS obsession, anyone could know something about Hovind that he doesn't know already but there it is. There will always be someone willing to try to rain on your parade. One case in point is when PotS decided to challenge wserra over what a court ruling had really meant in one of Kent's trials/motions. Given that Wes has spent far more time in criminal proceedings as a defense attorney, you would have figured that PotS might have wanted to wait this one out. No, he just went ahead and blazed a trail down In Your Face Lane and made a right turn onto Insult Highway and sped out of sight.
I think the main reason for PotS obsession is that he disagrees with Kent's position on creationism as science and that Kent was using it as a ministry that got Hovind some tax exemptions. He knows that he can put Hovind in his place since creationism cannot be proven by science, and wants to humiliate Kent every chance he can. The fact that Hovind is helping him do it probably just feeds that obsession even more. Obviously, watching Hovind and his associates lose their tax exempt status is another goal - regardless of whether any are entitled to it.
PotS has tried several times to inject an anti-religious angle into his Hovind posts before, so that appears to be a motivation for him. He at one time postulated that if you were a person who believed in creationism, then you were likely to become a tax protester. He couldn't see the logical fallacy of that proposition, which I would argue is another factor of obsession.
As I said earlier, this has all been going for years, and I have commented on it before. I am encouraged others are speaking up about it. But moving a thread around that is pointless, worn out, shabby, and broken down isn't really dealing with the matter. I think the thread should be locked down and PotS be encouraged to get one of those free web sites out there where he can post about Kent to his heart's fulfillment.
