Obtaining data from parallel port without the "phantom power" problem
I just want to tell the community that I figured this out myself. 

Optocouplers work!

Rather than use logic gates, I went a little more analog and decided to use opto-couplers (chip #4N35) to prevent the logic high from any of the the parallel port data bits from entering into the VCC line of the microcontroller. 

The other lines connected to the port are connected to the inputs of the parallel port and since those lines are generally "weakly" pulled high by the port instead of strongly pulled high (which is what happened with the data ports), this circuit is a winner for me. 

All resistors are 220 ohm except for the left-most one which is a 0-ohm resistor because I used it as a jumper wire on the PCB.

Also, I noticed the PCB was easier to route plus I was able to make the PCB about 10% smaller while still fitting every part on.

Only caveat to this design which I am ok with dealing with is that when sending data out, I must specify the inverted bit values from the PC side. (example, if I want to output a 70h to the hardware, then I must specify to the software a value of 00h, and if I wanted to output a 40h then I must specify 30h)