Your tax dollars at work

[tikistitch]

Spotted near Exit 110 in southern Oregon.



Been wanting to snap a photo. Yes, even in a Blue State, teh stoopid sometimes reigns. Especially with folk who spend money on billboards (there are actually two of them within a few miles of each other). Most self-respecting simians we know would be emabarrassed to be related to the guys what put them up anyways.

EDIT: Just looked up the referenced web site, for the LULZ. Didja know, contributions to the fellas what put up the billboard, Who Is Your Creator?, are tax deductible? They are registered as a charity. In Minnesota.

We quote:

Who Is Your Creator uses media, including display advertising, to raise awareness of the serious misrepresentations and lack of scientific proof for the theory of Evolution, Naturalism and Darwinism.

See? They are a scientific organization.

Who Is Your Creator is a 501(c) 3 public charity registered in the State of Minnesota and donations are tax-deductible as provided under the IRS tax code. (Who Is Your Creator has no paid directors or employees.)

Minnesota? Y'all should be proud, P.Z.! (/joke)

So, you're wondering, how did they come to their very scientific conclusion about the theory of evolution? Are they perhaps crack biochemists from MIT? Rogue geneticists at Berkeley?

We believe that God is The Creator, and that Jesus is The Way, The Truth, and The Life. Our hope is that we can Advance His Kingdom by countering the false foundations for the faith of evolution and to offer Christians more opportunities for sharing the Gospel.

Oh. That. Okey-dokey.

EDIT: Oopsie, PZ, whose blog people actually read (unlike, say, this one) put a link here, so I've temporarily enabled anonymous comments, so all the crazy people can have their say. For extra credit, you can take the good perfesser's advice, and visit Monkey Lady's forum. Ya, rilly, she has a forum.

Comments

[wintersweet.livejournal.com]

It's "SCIENCE!" (/skaɪɛns/) as Clint would say.

[(Anonymous)]

Are they perhaps crack biochemists from MIT?

Well, they're certainly crackheads! *rimshot*

[(Anonymous)]

please explain how this billboard involves TAX dollars?

[tikistitch.livejournal.com]

Okely-dokely!

1) make a TAX-deductible contribution to Monkey lady's charity.

hee hee

[(Anonymous)]

This exchange made me laugh.

Fishbone McGonigle

[(Anonymous)]

Tikistitch,

There's a difference between tax dollars, and tax-deductible contributions. When you say "your tax dollars at work" it implies that some government agency is funding her using tax money. That's just not the case.

That her foundation has tax-deductible status means that people who donate money to her can deduct that same amount of money from the taxes they pay (within certain limits described in the various tax codes). That reduces the amount of tax revenue that the government gets, but that's way, way different from government funding her operations.

Hope this helps.

AnthonyH

[tikistitch.livejournal.com]

Whoa, ya know, this marks the very first time discussion of the implications of Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)3 tax exempt status has come to tikistitch.

I definitely need to turn off the anonymous comment screening more often.

[(Anonymous)]

Being tax exempt is equivalent to a subsidy:

"tax exemptions, credits, and deductions are a form of subsidy that is administered through the tax system"

Supreme Court, Regan v. Taxation With Representation, 461 U.S. 540, 544, 103 S.Ct. 1997, 2000 (1983))

[(Anonymous)]

If its equivalent to a subsidy its tax dollars. You were spot on with your explanation, you just didnt get yourself...

what I wonder about is...

[(Anonymous)]

... how do they get the enormous amount of money to sustain this kind of activity? The stupid burns, but the fact that there are actually people supporting the stupid boggles the mind!!

Re: what I wonder about is...

[(Anonymous)]

The problem with teh stoopid today is that life is FAR TOO SAFE. There is little left in modern society to really threaten the ignorant. Take automobiles, for example. Too many damn air bags (not just the drivers). People would drive better if you replaced air bags with C4 explosives. And a big spike in the middle of the steering wheel. "Oh, go ahead and take the spot in front of me, no problem!" Damn safety nazis ruined it!

Sad really

[(Anonymous)]

It's really quite sad. Though lulz are lulz, and the stupid runs deep in this one.

[ladyvonkulp.livejournal.com]

Sounds more like they're a lack-of-science organisation.

What the heck is 'Naturalism', anyway? Wasn't that an artistic movement?

[tikistitch.livejournal.com]

Heh. I had thought "naturalism" was another word for nudists!

[ladyvonkulp.livejournal.com]

Hmm... I suppose I usually think of "Naturalists" for that idea. More the people, than the idea.

Looks as though it is all of the above (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naturalism).

[ladyvonkulp.livejournal.com]

They specifically mention that's "Naturism", not to be confused with Naturalism.

[tikistitch.livejournal.com]

Here's how my brain works: I used to work in a university library where we'd occasionally get pamphlets from naturists (i.e., nudists). (Don't know what the heck collection they were headed for, but we did.) So when I saw "Naturalism" on that web site, I immediately though, "She thinks all us scientists run around nekkid?"

[agnesscottie.livejournal.com]

You know, it seems like us poor Oregonians don't get much publicity (unless you're talking about the greenery) and then stuff like this pops up....

*sigh*

(came by from PZ's blog)

[tikistitch.livejournal.com]

But we LOVE Oregon! You got....you got....er....Crater Lake!!! And besides, if it wasn't for Oregon, Washington would bump into California. :-)