Monday, September 7, 2009

Bigot at the Kansas City Star

Not only does KC Star cartoonist Lee Judge lack talent -- it's pretty obvious he is a bigot. The cartoon below, published in the Kansas City Star Saturday, ridicules Christian ministers.




Judge recently drew a bizarre cartoon slamming Catholics, apparently with the full blessing of his employer.

Judge's religious bigotry is only targeted at Christians.  Try to imagine Judge drawing a cartoon slamming Muslims.  It would never happen. But, even if the unthinkable did happen and Judge drew an anti-Muslim cartoon, do you think the Star would publish it?

Update: in comments, a reader says Lee Judge based his cartoon on this report in the KC Star about a revision of the New International Version version of the Bible.

But there is nothing in the report to give Lee Judge a basis to portray ministers as morons the way he does in the cartoon. The report explains the NIV is being revised to remove gender-specific terms where the original languages (Hebrew and Greek) do not use gender-specific terms. So some verses “sons of God” becomes “children of God.” Regardless whether Judge based his cartoon on the Star article, it's obvious Judge went way out of his way to slime Christian ministers and the Bible. The cartoon was drawn by a bigot.

Update #2: Doug Ross linked, thanks!

Related:
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48 comments:

Anonymous said...

Re: "..cartoon mocking Muslims"

Judge probably realizes it is not healthy to mess with the
'Religion of Peace.'

Kevin Gregory said...

11:22 right, so he takes the coward's way out and attacks the one religion he can mock without riling up the Grievance Groups in KC.

Anonymous said...

begs the question--how does a fundamentalist who believes in the inerrancy of Biblical scripture explain the decision to release a newly edited version of the Bible? It's a matter of logical consistency, not religious bigotry.

John Altevogt said...

The real oddity here is what (aside from his obvious bigotry) motivated this? What story about religion, either national, or local has been in the news that would make this an appropriate cartoon?

Note that you cannot post responses to his cartoons. At one time he had a blog that generated so much heat that they removed it when he came back and no longer allow comments.

When we talk about The Star as a purveyor of hatred and bigotry and criticize their many links to a local anti-evangelical hate group, we're not kidding. Religious intolerance is very much a part of the metro area political culture, and both The Star and The Sun have openly promoted it and those who engage in it.

John Altevogt said...

I just did a google search for recent news about editing the Bible and found none. There are various translations of The Bible, with various goals in mind. The NASB is the closest word-for-word text, while the NIV is considered to be an excellent thought-for thought translation.

Translation is indeed tricky and open to hermeneutical interpretation, but I guarantee you Mr. Judge is not a Biblical scholar concerned with the hermeneutics of Old Testament Hebrew, or the translation thereof. His goal is to bash people of faith. Period.

Anonymous said...

What newly edited version of the bible?

John Altevogt said...

When even people who might be interested in a new edition, translation, etc of the Bible are not aware of the context for this cartoon it's a pretty good indication that the subject matter was poorly chosen if his goal is to be relevant.

Obviously, bigotry and not relevancy was the criteria behind this cartoon.

Anonymous said...

More unfunny, not very bright, just angry cartooning. Pretty lame for a cartoonist. Shameful for the Star.

Alan Cochrum said...

I agree with the 11:40 a.m. comment. This cartoon is attacking not Christianity but what the artist perceives as the inconsistency of someone arguing that the Bible is inspired revelation that nonetheless needs editing.

My bet is that the cartoonist is reacting to the news that a new edition of the New International Version is in the works, an edition that (I understand) is supposed to use gender-inclusive language in places where English translations traditionally have used terms like "men" but where the context means "people" (as in a statement like "all men have sinned").

Of course, IMO this is not editing but just trying to get the translation right.

John Altevogt said...

Alan, these attempts to update the language of The Bible are not "editing" as you point out, but suggestions as to how to translate certain concepts so they have the same meaning for each generation.

I would also add, that these attempts are not always readily embraced and previous attempts by the NIV folks to make these changes have, in fact, been met with stiff opposition.

The only ones I know of who have suggested actual editing of The Bible are the leftist kooks of the so-called Jesus Seminar (which includes among other folks the producer of porno films).

Alan, where your attempt to give Mr. Judge the benefit of the doubt falls flat is a) his (and The Star's) lengthy history of attacks on people of faith, not as individuals but as a group and b) the fact that he is so ignorant of the topic that he doesn't understand the difference between translating a document and editing it. The one, as you point out, can be an attempt at increased accuracy while the other, i.e. the Jesus Seminar approach clearly would be heretical.

Anonymous said...

...Alan, where your attempt to give Mr. Judge the benefit of the doubt falls flat is a) his (and The Star's) lengthy history of attacks on people of faith, not as individuals but as a group...

How about some specific examples, John, so we can judge for ourselves?

Anonymous said...

"The real oddity here is what (aside from his obvious bigotry) motivated this? What story about religion, either national, or local has been in the news that would make this an appropriate cartoon?"

John, maybe if you did more than bitch all the time, you idiot, you would have seen this story.

Top-selling Bible to undergo revision
http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/1419414.html

Anonymous said...

Yet another personal, name calling attack from our leftist troll attempting to defend the indefensible.

God I am so glad these people are being driven out of work. The more you listen to them the more clear it becomes that they never should have been allowed to work outside menial labor.

John Altevogt said...

3;55 AND 4:09 We've just seen two examples from Mr. Drudge in less than a week. Do you realize how stupid that makes your request for examples look?

More to the point are the close associations between The Star and the Meneillyite hate group. The Star ran puff pieces on its members, allowed them to use a name they no longer had any legal right to, attended its meetings as participants and sat on the boards of various left wing front groups together.

For instance, Art Brisbane and the old cracker, Reverend Bob hisself sat on the same leftist "charity that got in trouble for direct involvement in leftist political campaigns. Art was the co-chair with one of the Meneillyites and the majority of the board was made up of members and associates of the hate group. I also have a tape of Art bad-mouthing Christians in front of a radical homosexual group.

4:09 Your link didn't work, but right now I can tell you that you made the same ignorant mistake that your bigoted idol made. Editing something and revising it to keep the language understandable are two completely different things.

For example, I was listening to an ad on TV today about a pirate movie from the 50's in which the claim was made that they went to sea for "booty". I can assure you that the booty they meant was not the same booty we think of now when we hear the term.

The essence of bigotry is making ignorant and prejudicial statements about groups you don't understand. Both you and Mr. Judge clearly qualify.

Anonymous said...

...the Meneillyite hate group...

John, your bias and inability to look beyond your own political past is showing. The Mainstream Coalition moderates opposed the right-wing takeover of the Republican party on the Kansas side of the metro area. Opposing you and the right-wing takeover is not an example of "hate." In fact, most unbiased observers consider your tactics (and the far right Republicans' tactics) as "hate." Unfortunately, those tactics were successful, and the far-right takeover of the GOP is a major reason that moderate Republicans have defected and that Democrats have won so many contests in one of the most Republican counties in Kansas.

John Altevogt said...

You can lie your ass off, but the goal of Meneilly's leftist hate group was to drive religious conservatives out of Kansas politics using the old bogus separation argument as a smokescreen. The hypocrisy is that Meneilly did so quite often from the pulpit of his left wing church. They specifically targeted people of faith simply because they were people of faith.

Secondly, I finally believe that we have a member of The Star's staff posting here. Only one of the puppets at The Star would try and hold out Meneilly's group as a group of moderates and do so with a straight face. Meneilly and his bunch was so far left that one of the things that cost them much political capital with Republican moderates was that they were so clearly left wing extremists and even The Star's and the Sun's lies to the contrary couldn't hide the facts anymore.

Finally, go to the Secretary of State's website and see what the name of their corporation is. They have no legal right to the use of the Mainstream Coalition name and only a puppet would try and do so.

John Altevogt said...

Dear Liar. While we're at it, let me point out that you didn't refute even one of the specifics I raised. If you're going to come on here and lie you need to come better prepared.

This is why I argue for at least screen names so that when this liar posts again that he/she/it will be known for the liar they are.

Anonymous said...

Secondly, I finally believe that we have a member of The Star's staff posting here.




Of course we do. It is Mike Hendricks and his wife. They're big "fans" of McClatchy Watch and they literally never miss a post.

Anonymous said...

If it is Mike, he is now in mourning because ding dong van jones is gone! How's that for the color of change? hehe...

Kevin Gregory said...

Van Jones resigned. Of course the lefties will spin this as a witch hunt by Glenn Beck and the right wing instead of what it is: the White House inviting a certified Truther nutcase to join the administration. (Thanks for the heads up 9:57.)

Anonymous said...

10:11 PM You're more than welcome my friend. I posted the full text of his letter in the open thread.

Anonymous said...

...left wing church...

If it's "left wing," there must be a lot of left wingers in the most Republican, most affluent county in Kansas. His church, I believe, was one of the largest Presbyterian churches in the country.

Anonymous said...

I guess Meneilly is a leftwinger because he was one of the few people in Johnson County who didn't oppose racial integration in the 50s and 60s. Is that a "liberal" position, or a "Christian" position? This continuing effort to portray lily-white moderate-to-conservative Johnson County, Kansas, as the second coming of Berkeley, California, is evidence of delusion.

Also, the parsing of the difference between "editing" and "revising" is what some of you in other contexts might call "Clintonesque."

Anonymous said...

"4:09 Your link didn't work ..."

For the slow learners, use this

And for the poster who said:

"Yet another personal, name calling attack ..."

Read some of "John's" posts to see where most of the name calling comes from.

You righties can dish it out but you sure can't take it.

John Altevogt said...

I love the way you bigots sneak in long after the thread's done and try and make the points you failed to make when it was active. For the third time, editing and revising are drastically different. Read above for multiple explanations of why (assuming you have any ability to comprehend anything).

As for Reverend Bob, he's much like Fred Phelps, a fighter for civil rights who turned into a bigot and hatemonger. Meneilly's church was alleged to have 7000 members, but I'm told the counting method was quite creative since no one ever saw more than 1000 at any given time.

Eastern Johnson County is heavily populated with folks who fled from KCMO during the days when they were integrating the schools and many of these now blue hairs were part of Reverend Bob's crew. They went from hating people of color and fearing them to hating the fundies and fearing them thanks to the constant barrage of hate spewed by Meneilly and his acolytes of hate.

Originally, they did try to hold themselves out as "moderate" Republicans to play to that audience, but that quickly fell apart as the group moved farther and farther to the left. According to the voter registration list for Yohnson County (not only the wealthiest, but perhaps the most corrupt county in Kansas) Rev. Bob and his family are all registered Democrats.

The final blow to their allegations of being anything but a stalking horse for the local Democrats fell apart when they bailed out on Adam Taff, the official money candidate for the Johnson County establishment and supported socialist Democrat, Dennis Moore for congress (who according to The Star and The Sun is a blue dog Democrat).

They were again embarrassed when they forgot to file the one page annual report to the Secretary of State and a conservative group picked up their registration and the legal rights to their former name. Here again we see the bias of The Star which decided that their Meneillyite pals were above the law and hence still entitled to use the name, legal niceties be damned.

Of course, while religious conservatives aren't supposed to be in politics, Rev Bob has a PAC to support his chosen candidates. Bigot, hypocrite, egotistical liar, everything you want in your pastor.

John Altevogt said...

Oh and a PS, The Jewish Chronicle denounced Meneilly's church for holding meetings they termed as "anti-Semitic". What a surprise.

Anonymous said...

...but perhaps the most corrupt county in Kansas)...

ROFL! And this whopper comes from someone who lives in Wyandotte County, which until the Unified Government was created was one of the most corrupt counties in the country.

...socialist Democrat, Dennis Moore...

ROFL! Come on, John. To you and your far-right echo chamber, anyone to the left of you is a socialist. To anyone with any knowledge of Dennis Moore, he's about as far from a socialist as you can get.

John Altevogt said...

Actually the UG is as bad as the old batch they've just learned from JOCO how to fake it.

As for Dennis, check any of the far left rating groups and Dennis scores well on all of their rankings. He also supports Obama's Death Care

But let's talk about JOCO, for instance, your junior college. The main building is named after Charles "groper" Carlsen, the former president who resigned in disgrace after 4 women accused him of sexual harassment. The trustees covered it up for years until the student newspaper broke the story.

As a response the trustees first spent 50K+ on one of Carlsen's cronies for "PR work". Oh and let's tie this in with Rev. Bob and his hate group. Both Carlsen and his PR crony were activists with the group. After that they spent about a half a million trying to clear his name with an investigation that revealed what a joke the "prestigious" Johnson Countian of the Year was.

Turns out that Groper and Dick Bond another JOCO scoundrel picked the winners all by themselves, including giving it to themselves and several other activists with the Meneillyite hate group.

That's just for starters, I could go on forever with your two recent forever taxes that you inflicted on yourselves and how zoning changes get handled, or how essentially 9 people have been allowed to load the bench in a Republican county with a pack of Democrat political hacks, including the attorney for JCCC.

Anonymous said...

Dennis Moore, he's about as far from a socialist as you can get.




Moore has voted 98% in line with Pelosi. Stop embarrassing yourself for crying out loud.

Anonymous said...

John, John, John. It's useless trying to continue with you. Your ideology and political past have blinded you. Or, more likely, it's a political tactic you picked up from Saul Alinsky. It certainly fits his playbook.

Anonymous said...

This thread is totally boring for most of us who don't have a clue what ya'll are arguing about. If anything, this shouting match should have been bumped - down. It's definitely not mainstream in interest. Yawn.

Anonymous said...

It's definitely not mainstream in interest.



Mainstream as defined by homosexual leftist bigots that don't like being exposed for what you are no doubt.


Thanks MW. Exposing this bigot that embarrasses us in Kansas City on a constant and continual basis is a public service we appreciate.

Anonymous said...

How you wackos interpret the cartoon as an insult to ministers shows just how distorted your thought processes are. It is clearly only a mild comment on how the NIV is in need of revision to bring it into line with modern beliefs. Get a life ... for God's sake.

Anonymous said...

I don't read that cartoon that way at all. I find it to be an attempt to be hateful and demeaning to one of the great world religions.
I wonder why this cartoonist only launches such attacks on one religion.

Anonymous said...

Nothing has torn more people apart than religion. Well, that was before the current conservatives came around the tear our country apart. Why do conservatives hate everything and everyone that isn't like them?

Anonymous said...

2:32 You have a real short memory. What about the liberal's attacks on President Bush for eight years? Geeze that was a dumb statement. Obama is already disliked more than President Bush. Watch his numbers drop bro, if drop is even the right word.

Anonymous said...

I think we need Rhonda Lokeman back to work with Judge on proper cartoon style. Her best thing is comedy, when she is not stunt driving that is.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Agree, this is one boring topic. Anything else going on?




You've been warned about agreeing with yourself and responding to your own posts. Is it necessary to post your IP address in order to make you understand just how tacky that is?

Anonymous said...

Why do liberals hate everyone who is not them. Why do liberals cram their civil religion down everyone's throat, especially people of faith. Why is it that the liberals just can't stand to hear any point of view that does not agree with their echo chamber in the MSM.
I am sick of liberals telling the rest of us how to think, what to say, who to vote for and how defective we are to have our own opinions. I want to puke when lefties call taxpayers Nazi's and accuse grandmothers of being astroturf, even while the Democrats are paying people to go to town hall meetings and training them to supress speech.
I am sick of liberals saying that other people are racist even as they won't acknowledge the openly racist statements of the Green Czar. Or the Professor in Cambridge or the pastor in Chicago or...
Look at the cartoon. Why would someone who does not practice that religion, be interested in commenting except to attack those who hold a different point of view.
Liberals are the most intolerant group of people in this whole country.

Anonymous said...

5:05 said:

"Liberals are the most intolerant group of people in this whole country."

Man, you are seriously confused.

John Altevogt said...

No, 5:05 is right on target.

Anonymous said...

5:05 PM

Well said and right on the money.

Anonymous said...

I wonder why this cartoonist only launches such attacks on one religion.



Because he knows that religion will not ship is head home to the little lady in a box.

Judge is a lot of things. Brave isn't one of them. He's another effeminate smart ass like Mike Hendricks. All mouth and no balls.

Sophia said...

The "edit" vs. "revise" debate isn't constructive. The mistake that Judge stands accused of is suggesting there will be substantive changes rather than stylistic changes.

The AP article in the star is not very clear. If I understand correctly, the gender inclusive changes already happened and some groups hope to revisit those changes. People who argue in support of gender inclusivity based on making it more broadly appealing are making stylistic arguments. But the fact remains that if the translators have determined that the original language was gender inclusive, then that is a substantive change.

Or rather, was a substantive change that was made during the last revision, that some people would like to see changed back.

Overall, I think this is a strange thing to get excited about. The Judge cartoon, the translations, JoCo republican politics, etc. I just followed a link from BLC and thought I'd add that clarification.

Anonymous said...

Overall, I think this is a strange thing to get excited about.



Perhaps because you are unaware of the gentleman's long and storied history of blatant bigotry under the guise of tolerance and enlightenment.

Fortunately, or unfortunately his trail of bigotry is no longer displayed for all to see exactly what he is as the Star saw fit to nix his collection that exposed them and him for what they really were.

With Judge like the Star, there is a pattern here.

Mike@LQ said...

Hey, I was wonderin',,,,
can somebody really turn into a pillar of salt,like it said in that book?
If you believe that to be true.......you are not right in the head.

Anonymous said...

This is just the latest in a long string of Judge cartoons that bash chrsitians, particularly Catholics. Are there any other newspapers who actually run his "syndicated" cartoons?