wither in the light

You might have seen this picture in the news, accompanying the story about how this peaceful Bush supporter and his precious little kids were accosted by Bush-haters at a Kerry/Edwards rally, who tore up the family's pro-Bush signs and threw the pieces at them.



The part they probably didn't tell you on the news was that this guy is a serial victim who, if what he says about the assaults he has received is true, has a habit of repeatedly endangering his children in his quest for peaceful political expression. It's looking more likely that his real quest is to foment self-righteous hatred. What a fucking knob.

17 September 2004

A Republican family attended the rally to show support for the Bush-Cheney ticket. Phil Parlock, a Barboursville resident and strong Republican, said his family was accosted by some Kerry supporters. "We do it peacefully and quietly to show respect. And, we don't want to get kicked out of anything," Parlock said.

After standing on the tarmac with the Kerry supporters, Parlock and three of his children moved down to the airport road near a parking lot exit. With Parlock were sons Phil II, 21, and Alex, 11, and daughter Sophia, 3.

Parlock said a Kerry supporter yanked a Bush-Cheney sign out of Sophia's hands, making her cry. As they stood along the road later, someone threw the ripped-up remains of the sign at them as they passed.

But wait, there's more:

28 October 2000, Charleston Daily Mail

Phil Parlock didn't expect to need all 12 of the Bush-Cheney signs he and his son Louis smuggled in their socks and pockets into the rally for Vice President Al Gore.
But each time they raised a sign, someone would grab it out of their hands, the two Huntington residents said. And sometimes it got physical.

"I expected some people to take our signs," said Louis, 12. "But I did not expect people to practically attack us."

The two said they didn't go to the Friday morning rally to start trouble.

"I came to support Bush and try to change some people's minds," Louis said.

It's like deja-vu all over again:

27 August 1996, Charleston Daily Mail

Phil Parlock's experience was less calm. The Huntington man said he was knocked to the ground by a Clinton supporter when he tried to display a sign that read "Remember Vince Foster," the deputy White House counsel who committed suicide in a Washington, D.C., park. His death has become the subject of much debate among Clinton opponents.

"It must have been a strict Democrat who did this," Parlock said, feeling the red abrasions on his face. "Everyone with the exception of him was real peaceful about our protest."

Parlock said some of the crowd tried to make other anti-Clinton demonstrators feel unwelcome. He estimated that about 150 Dole supporters attended the rally, but their signs couldn't be seen for most of the rally.

I've got an idea: fuck the Republicans. Fuck the Democrats too. Ditto for Nader. This country clearly doesn't want (and can't handle) the responsibility of a democracy. Let's set up a nice little theocratic dictatorship so all of the extreme-wing fucktards will be happy and leave the rest of us alone. We'll also probably get more accurate news from a state-run media than we do from Murdoch's Minions; at the very least we won't get any non-contextual factual information with which to compare the bullshit.