Thoughtless for the Day

Saturday, September 18th

Special Saturday Edition - Meet The Parlocks And Their Pals


If you opened a newspaper, or dropped by The Drudge Report, yesterday you probably saw
the following picture:

ripped (20k image)

That little girl is 3-year-old Sophia Parlock from West Virginia and,
according to her father, Phil, she's crying because Democrats stole her
family's Bush-Cheney campaign signs and ripped them up.

Parlock, who identified himself as "strictly a volunteer, grass-roots
supporter" of President Bush, took his daughter and his 11-year-old son to
a Democratic rally in Huntington, West Virginia which featured vice
presidential candidate John Edwards.

"We stood there quietly while Senator Edwards went through the receiving
line," said Parlock. "I took out a few Bush-Cheney signs, gave one to Alex,
and Sophia and I held up one jointly." And that's when, according to
Parlock, the family was attacked by angry Democrats - "mostly the painters'
union guys" who began to swipe the Parlock clan's signs.

"They just pounced on us," said Parlock, who ran unsuccessfully for his
local school board this year. The next thing he knew "old women and college
students joined in the fracas."

Parlock has three children, ages 22, 21, and 18 in the West Virginia Army
National Guard. When asked about the photo, Parlock commented, "In the
picture, you can see one of the painters' union guys has a piece of one
of my signs in his hand."

Shocking! Those Union guys are animals who should be …oh, wait a minute…

William Rivers Pitt over at Truthout has found out a few interesting facts
about Mr. Parlock's string of bad luck at Democratic rallies.

The following is from the Charleston Daily Mail, August 27, 1996:

"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...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."



"Remember Vince Foster" ??? Damn, I'm kinda glad Phil lost that school
board election, although part of me would love to see what kind of
curriculum a conspiracy theorist would devise.

And this is from Charleston Daily Mail, October 28, 2000:

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."


Damn, Phil, you should really think about steering clear of those rallies.
It seems that every time you show up someone takes your signs. Just
like in that now famous picture where "you can see one of the painters'
union guys has a piece of one of my signs in his hand."

Yes, that Painters' Union guy, the one who bears a striking resemblance to
Phil's West Virginia Army National Guard serving son, seen below in the
gray shirt.

parlock (19k image)

Please note that neither I, nor the folks at Truthout are saying that they're
definitely the same person. We're just saying that they look a lot
alike. And I think that Phil's haircut makes him look kinda Gay.

By the way, two weeks ago someone shot a bullet into a local GOP
headquarters. WCHS news out of Charleston covered the story and interviewed
one of the victims who said, "I think this is definitely, definitely an
act that was by an extremist kind of thing." The man who provided that
quote was none other than Phil Parlock, whose bad luck seems to have
extended beyond rallies.

For about the one millionth time, I should point out that I am not
a Democrat. What I am is pissed off at the supposedly liberal media for
failing to look into Mr. Parlock's past. If the media is an arm of the
Communist Party, as Bill O'Reilly would have you believe, than why did
little Sophia Parlock end up all over the news, while almost nobody
covered this:

pull (20k image)

That's a picture of a Bush supporter pulling a demonstrator's hair before
forcing her out of an auditorium in Colmar, Pa where the President was
speaking. Big, brave man - pulled a woman's hair. Probably because his own
haircut makes him look kinda Gay.


And where's the coverage on this fellow?

scott (24k image)

According to many accounts, this dude kicked a female protester at the
Republican National Convention. Check out his Ninja fighting technique
here. Thanks to Reason for the investigation. And yes, I think that
haircut makes him look kinda Gay.


Rodney on 09.18.04 @ 12:05 AM EST [link]


Friday, September 17th

Semi-Big-Assed Weekend Edition (Viva Las Nixon)


poemap3 (38k image)Congratulations to Paul Kircher whose show has just been syndicated to the
spiritual and intellectual capitol of America - Las Vegas. And let's here
it for me, because Paul recently promoted me to the position of Head
Writer, or, as I prefer to be called, Rob Goddamn Petrie!* You folks in
the Las Vegas area (AKA, the endless, soulless desert) will be able to
listen to Paul every Friday. Hmmm, maybe I should stop working on this and
round up some guests for next Friday's show.

Speaking of Paul, he and I were sitting outside Stellar coffee the other
day, shooting the bull, when we got around to the subject of the minimum
wage.

Did you know that the last significant increase in the minimum wage took
place under the Nixon administration? In fact, if you take the minimum wage
under Nixon and adjust it for inflation, it comes out to $10.40 - 40 cents
an hour more than the proposed minimum wage that many people, myself
included, are pushing for today. The current minimum wage is a whopping
$5.15 an hour. Republicans don't want to increase that amount at all.
Democrats would like to boost that princely sum by - get this - $1 or $2 an
hour, thus proving my theory that both parties are inhabited, pretty much
entirely, by dickweeds.

Anonymous wins.

I really miss Richard Nixon - and not just because I look like him. Nixon
ended the draft, implemented a broad environmental program, and hated
Hippies. All things that I applaud. Hell, Nixon even brokered a treaty to
limit strategic nuclear weapons. How fucked up have things gotten when we
can refer to the Nixon era as "progressive"? Dick, maybe we've all been a
little too tough on you. I'm sure that my sister feels bad about writing
"Shitty Nixon" on her bedroom wall in 1968.

Shit, Luther, things have gotten so bad that this November's Presidential
Election will be monitored by international observers. You know, like in
the gawddamn Third World.

Getting back to the minimum wage, opponents of increasing the minimum wage
argue that forcing small businesses to pay higher wages will result in
layoffs and that every ten percent increase in the minimum wage results in
a loss of 100,000 jobs. Which would be great points - if they were correct.

A study of minimum wage employees in New Jersey by Princeton economists
David Card and Alan Krueger found little or no impact on employment.
Or, as Nobel Laureate and MIT Economist Robert Solow wrote the "main thing
about the research is that the evidence of the job loss is weak.... And the
fact that the evidence is weak suggests the impact on jobs is small."

At this point in the argument, the anti-increase crowd counters with "Well,
what about teenagers? Many minimum wage workers are not the primary bread
winners in their households. They're teenagers or entry level workers with
few skills who need these jobs to break into the labor force.

Very interesting - but retarded. Do you know who the people are who are
most affected by an increase in the minimum wage? They're adults aged 20
and over. And as for those minimum wage earning teenagers, well more than
half of them belong to households with below-average incomes.

On the subject of below-average incomes, the average full time worker who's
receiving the minimum wage makes a measly $10,712 a year. That, my fellow
class warriors, is way the Hell below the poverty line for a family of three.

Anonymous wins FATALY!


* When I was in High School, I dated a girl who was not only obsessed with
the old Dick Van Dyke Show, but also convinced that Rob and Laura Petrie
were swingers. She came to this interesting conclusion after viewing
several episodes in which Rob and Laura host cocktail parties. It was at
these parties where Laura would don a leotard and entertain the crowd with
a "modern dance" routine. Add to this the fact that almost all of the
Petrie's male friends look exactly like Lenny Bruce and you begin to see
things my ex-girlfriend's way.



Rodney on 09.17.04 @ 01:45 PM EST [link]


Thursday, September 16th

Bemused


virginal (51k image)The fact that I'm voting for someone other than George Bush or John Kerry
gives me an interesting perspective on current events. One that can best
be described as bemusement.

Take, for example, Rathergate. Now, if you're pro-Bush, then Rathergate
just confirms your suspicions that the media (with the exception of those
brilliant patriots at FOX News) is controlled by Communists who have had
it in for Bush since before he was born. Hell, our good friend, Michelle
Malkin
's panties are completely soaked with glee over this debacle as is
evident in her most recent column - which for some reason appears on the
Jewish World Review site. Happy Rosh Hashanah, Michelle.

By the way, many of you will, I'm sure, be pleased to lean that Ms. Malkin
and I have decided to put away our differences and collaborate on a book
about 18th century gilded harpsichord technique. The book, which will be
published by Random House, this winter, is called Please pluck my
yellow virginal
.

If you're pro-Kerry, well I guess you're not saying much of anything -
which has also been Kerry's strategy throughout this campaign. What you're
probably thinking is "Damn, I know those documents looked too good to
be true."
. Which brings me to CBS…

Being neither pro-Bush nor pro-Kerry, the only reaction that I've been able
to muster is "Shit, Luther, I'm all for hiring the handicapped and what
not, but does CBS really need an entire news department comprised solely of
retards?"

Hey, at least once a week someone tries to sell me a forged Bush National
Guard document like this one.

bushdoc (21k image)

Now, if I have yet to fall for this trick, you'd think the folks over CBS
wouldn't have either. But the real question here is why has it taken the
media so long to look into Bush's National Guard service?
See, this is
what happens when you try to play catch up, you get sloppy.



Rodney on 09.16.04 @ 07:59 PM EST [link]


Wednesday, September 15th

Politics and Music – Philly Style


Politics

chris1 (7k image)I stopped by Paul's show today to participate in his interview with Chris
Randolph.
You can listen to the show here.

Mr. Randolph just won a court battle that will allow him to appear on the
ballot, here in PA's first district, as a congressional candidate. Why all
the legal bullshit? Well, Mr. Randolph is running as an Independent
candidate.

Chris Randolph's stint as Joseph K. in Franz Kafka's The Trial began
when he decided to run for office. The first gauntlet that a candidate must
face is collecting enough signatures to appear on the ballot. Chris wrote
to the good folks at the Bureau of Elections and asked them to send him the
necessary blank petitions, which they did. The problem was that they didn't
send Chris enough petitions to cover all the signatures that he
would need (Democrats and Republicans need to collect 1,000 signatures,
everybody else need 2,400).

In all fairness to the Bureau of Elections, they did offer Chris a reason
for the inadequate supply - they were attempting to "conserve" petitions.
And so, Chris Randolph suffered his first "WTF? moment" of his campaign.
There would be more to follow.

Chris eventually managed to collect over 2,900 signatures which he promptly
took to Harrisburg. Most of them were quickly disqualified. Why? Being
short on forms, Chris had photocopied some blank petitions and stapled them
together. A no-no under PA law.

But why didn't Chris know that this wasn't allowed? Because there's no real
protocol for getting on the PA ballot. Most of the do's and don't are "left
to the discretion of the Board of Elections"

Eventually Chris would win his fight to get on the PA ballot (aided by the
same lawyers who are attempting to get Nader on the ballot), but not until
after he'd paid legal fees and lost valuable campaigning time. By the way,
Chris's story has been pretty much ignored by the media.

Chris seems to be a decent guy and he did a good job of getting his point
across on Paul's show, but - for me - the real highlight of the show was
hearing Paul refer to the man who represents my district in Congress as
"Bob 'Tammany Hall' Brady, a political fat cat with his belly hanging over his belt."

Music

If you picked up a copy of this weeks Philadelphia Weekly, you may've
noticed that I collaborated on the Top 100 Philly Albums of All Time
piece. Since only one of the albums that I recommended ended up on the
list - This Is The Master Brew by the Stickmen - the rest landing in
the Honorable Mention section, I thought I'd reprint my suggestions
for you:

GET OFF MY BACK (Various Artists)
Includes songs by Ruin, FOD, YDI, Autistic Behavior and more! This album,
if played at the right volume, can kill more brain cells than a LSD and
Freon cocktail. It's almost impossible to find this record today because
the Army confiscated nearly all copies.

LUCKY STIFF (Live Not On Evil)
This is a genuinely great record that more people should not only know
about but should actually go out and buy. Excellent songwriting,
performances, and production. Goth with guts…and brains. Bonus points for
having a name that's a palindrome.


PENALTY BOX [single] (Dave "The Hammer" Schultz)
Are you going to tell The Hammer that's he's not included on the list? I
didn't think so. I, for one, like my teeth where they are.


THIS IS THE MASTER BREW [EP] (Stickmen)
Sweet and Sour Jesus on an open-face bun, this is a classic! Possibly the
funkiest gawddamn record ever to come outta Philly. Pete Baker was the
most amazing front man that I ever saw. This record plays inside my head
every second of every day.


THE DAMAGE (Tapping The Vein)
Well, they certainly took their sweet time making it. Good things come to
those who wait.


GOD, WEEN SATAN - THE ONENESS (Ween)
If just one artifact of our culture survives the upcoming Bush Apocalypse,
to be found by future archeologists, I really hope that this is it.


THE DEVIL'S POCKET (The Low Road)
A great record that could've been an excellent record had the producer let
the band be a tad looser. But "Lullabye" comes off perfectly


CONSUMER REVOLT (Cop Shoot Cop)
Jeebus, are these guys pissed off. After listening to this, you'll wish
that more bands were.


TOAD LICKIN (More Fiends)
Allen and Elizabeth Fiend have been making great music together for more
than a few years now. Listen and wonder why they're not household names?


DECONTROL (Decontrol)
Your ears will bleed, your eyeballs will burst, and your brain will liquefy
and pour out your ears. NOT FOR WUSSIES.


TORSION (Torsion)
If you have this CD, stop reading this and put it on right now. If you
don't, then you probably enjoy Darryl Worley.


BUTTERFLY JOE (Butterfly Joe)
Man, I was hoping that this was gonna suck. Imagine my disappointment when
my old writing partner and my former drummer released a truly exceptional
CD (except for "honey jar").

IMPURE (Stendhal)
Yes, wonderfully impure. If you're thinking of making a Horror movie, hire
these guys to do the soundtrack.

DO YOU WANT MORE?!!!??! (The Roots)
Yes, please. And, if it's OK with you, I'd like to be Black , too.


RASSAFRANNA (Electric Love Muffin)

WIDE OPEN (Sideshow Prophets)

ROCK CANDY (The Friggs)

FALL (Season of Mourning)

GO TELL MOTHER (Carnival of Shame)

ANYTHING BY Adam and His Package



Rodney on 09.15.04 @ 06:15 PM EST [link]


Tuesday, September 14th

Let’s Kill The Wealthiest One Percent


Another Rant in a Continuing Series Aimed at Kicking Off a Class War

wealthy (5k image)In 1980, the average newly constructed home in the US occupied 1,600 square
feet. By 2001, the average newly constructed home in the US occupied 2,100
square feet. Why should you give a shit? Well, if you're one of the
wealthiest 1% of all Americans, you really shouldn't. So go play polo while
I explain the problem to everybody else.

Thanks to the tax breaks that have been handed to the wealthiest 1% of all
Americans, that group earned three times more in 2,000 than they did in
1979. Now, the prevailing theory behind giving tax cuts to the wealthy is
that they'll go out and spend their extra cash, which will trickle down to
the rest of us. Part of that theory is correct. The wealthy are
spending that money, unfortunately that spending is causing problems for
the rest of us. OK, I see some more explanation is called for.

Let's say a group of Millionaires gets a tax break and they decide to have
some mansions built. Those mansions are going to be pretty large. Let's
say 60,000 square feet. How does this affect you? It doesn't, yet. Now, the
folks on the rung just below the Millionaires, living in 30,000 square foot
homes now feel like indigent Hillbillies, because their homes are half the
size of their nearest economic competitors. In order to keep up with the
Jones, they need to purchase 50,000 square foot homes. And that's why, by
the time this home buying trickles down to the average middle class person,
they're forced to either go into debt buying a 2,100 square foot house, or
to buy a 1,200 square foot house that they can afford, but is located in a
shitty neighborhood.

This, of course, also applies to cars, clothes, etc.

None of this would be a problem if income levels would've grown at the same
rate as the price of goods and services, but they haven't. During the
period in which the size of those houses grew, the average family's real
income grew by less than 15%. Not even close enough to finance one of these
new McMansions.

The solution? Kill the wealthiest 1% of all Americans. OK, OK, I'm just
kidding. You can stop breaking down my door now. No the real solution is
for enough people to get so angry about the growing gap in income, that the
wealthiest 1% of all Americans become afraid that someone might seriously
start suggesting that we kill them. Frightened rich people are unlikely to
stand in the way of progressive tax reform. Hey, it worked in the era of
the Robber Barons.

But how do we stir up enough anger towards the wealthy to really spook the
bejusuz outt of 'em? OK, let's say that your neighbor starts complaining to
you about the price of a new car. Ask him whom he thinks is to blame for
that high sticker price. Chances are that he'll respond with something like
"The Unions" or "Those damn Mexicans." Now, explain to him what I've
explained to you, above. Be sure to cap it all off by pointing out that,
under new tax legislation, $700 million will be dropped into the pockets of
the wealthiest 1% over the next decade. Step back and watch it all sink in.

Behold, another class warrior is born.



Rodney on 09.14.04 @ 04:18 PM EST [link]


Monday, September 13th

Monday with Nathan


nathan (6k image)Hello, gentle reader. I'll be filling in, today, for Mr. Anonymous, who
after spending 10 hours editing a radio piece and another 14 straight hours
churning out a piece about religion for a magazine, has lapsed into a sort
of coma.

For the benefit of our newer readers, my name is Nathan E. Bulwar-Lytton.
For the last sixty-three years I have resided in Burley, Connecticut where
I am the theater critic for the Burley Protestant Observer.
Unfortunately, with the recent closing of the town's last theater, the
Orphium, there have been practically no professional theatrical productions
for me to critique. Subsequently, I have been forced, by necessity, to
review the plays performed by our local Elementary and High School
students:

Spirit of America
Performed by Mrs. Caldwiedler's Fourth Grade Class
Burley Elementary School Auditorium, Burley, Conn.

Reviewed by Nathan E. Bulwar-Lytton, Esq.


Oh, for a muse of fire. Preferably one with a history of pyromania who
might set the Burley Elementary School Auditorium ablaze and thereby
release me from the living death that is having witness our local junior
plebeians forget their lines, trip over props, or simply wet their pants
before exiting the stage, screaming.

Spirit of America was conceived by fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Eunice
Caldwiedler, as a "Way of helping the children deal with the after-effects
of terrorist attacks of 9/11." This would be a noble endeavor, indeed, if
any of the children in Mrs. Caldwiedler's charge had a concept of what
actually happened on 9/11, but - if the random sampling I conducted
is any indication - they, sadly, do not.

Jimmy Laulk informed me that "9/11 is like Easter, but without eggs." while
Tammy Higgins felt compelled to explain that "9/11 is when Jesus picks a
new President." Both of these historical insights were eclipsed by Kenny
Hall who, when asked what special significance the date September 11th,
2001 held for him replied "Mommy says not to touch my pee-pee."

Even when onc considers the children's ponderous ignorance, one can still
hardly be prepared for the atrocity that is Spirit of America. The
play begins, I kid you not, with none other than George Washington joining
a group of Indians for "The First Thanksgiving", and ends with the children
gathering onstage to sing Lee Greenwood's nauseating God Bless The USA
with the sort of enthusiasm normally associated with Joe Jackson's Is
She Really Going Out With Him
.

Between these bookends of horror, we, the audience, are treated to historic
re-enactments of the Boston Tea Party (Portrayed as an actual formal tea
party
), the assassination of President Lincoln (By a swarthy child
wearing a turban who stabs Lincoln to death), and Ronald Reagan "winning
the 1980 Winter Olympics" (???).

After witnessing last spring's abysmal Focus On Nutrition (During
which, a child dressed as a pineapple regaled the audience with his screams
of "You're not my real daddy."), I thought that Burley Elementary's
productions couldn't possible get any worse, but as the curtain fell on
Spirit of America (As well as on several of its cast members) I
realized that I had been woefully mistaken.

Warmest regards,
Nathan



Nathan on 09.13.04 @ 12:09 PM EST [link]




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