Prodigal Altar Boy Blog - My Super PAC Sacrifice List

Prodigal Altar Boy Blog

15 February 2012

Movie Work

Edit Work:

A few emails back with Karen Everett on a special consultation rate on my rough cut.  Even the discounted fee is out of my range, but I will find a way.

Advisory Board Work

Forwarded WithoutABox  festival email to the board to get their opinion on which festivals looked promising.  Mark Molloy suggested the Johns Hopkins festival because of locality, and the AmericanDocumentary Film Festival, Palm Springs, California.  Mark’s concern was the timing would not be right.  That might be the case for Johns Hopkins, but the American Documentary Festival also has the American Documentary Film fund, which:

The American Documentary Film Fund is an adjunct event related to the American Documentary Film Festival.

The Film Fund submitters are not in any way required to submit a film to the festival- this is a separate event within the confines of the festival. We encourage first-time and established filmmakers to submit to the Film Fund competition where upwards of $50,000 may be distributed each year to winning project(s).

Good eye Mark, I will look into that aspect of the festival and see what I can come up with. 

Music Work

Dies Irae

Getting more familiar with the piece played on the Annihilator guitar.  Moving the emphasis from seated playing to playing standing up.  The new strap helps adjust the guitar’s position for playing standing up.

Pat Metheny Etudes, Exercise #1, bars 1-8

Working on this piece to establish a smooth flow between bars 1-4 and 5-8 through daily repetition and focus on the transition.  Managed to get in 20 repetitions yesterday (14 February).

“Girls” come up from the basement

My wife left for vacation this morning, which means the girls can come up from the basement, enjoy the light of day, and be available for my every whim.

Exercise

14 February – EDT (Escalating Density Training)

Kettlebell Snatch (1a Left side/1b Right side) 45lb kettlebell/15 minutes

Left

10 sets of 5

7 sets of 4

3 sets of 3

Right

10 sets of 5

7 sets of 4

3 sets of 3

Notes

My Super PAC Sacrifice List

Over the weekend, the Baltimore Sun ran the following editorial cartoon:

I am as a big a fan of political cartoons as the next person, but I took offense to this cartoon because it implies hypocrisy between what President Obama says about how big money corrupts politics and the Democratic Super PAC Priorities USA Action, among others.  The cartoon was quick to quote the President’s words on the negative effects Super PAC money can have on the electoral system, but fails to quote to President’s Obama’s campaign manager , “We’re not going to fight this fight with one hand tied behind our back.”  Kevin Drum hit the nail on the head when he wrote in his blog, “The playing field is the playing field, and once a public policy has been legally put in place you'd be a sap not to play by the same rules as everyone else.”

After looking at the cartoon, I took out some paper and started listing all of the things I could forgo to put money toward the Democratic Super PAC.  I will still contribute to the Obama campaign until I hit the limit, but after that, some sacrifices are in order to keep money flowing to the reelection campaign.

My List of Super PAC Sacrifices (no particular order)

Until election day, to show my commitment to the re-election of President Obama, Calvin Thomas promises to divert any an all money from the businesses/organizations below to Democratic Super PACs supporting the President:

1. No Mr. Sausage on Saturdays (sorry Mr. Sausage)
2.   DCCC
3. Emily’s List
4. LIVESTRONG
5. WETA –(I just renewed, how could it be time to renew AGAIN?)
6. Color of Change
7. Micro Place
8. National Women’s Law Center
9. Baltimore Fashion Alliance
10. Earth Justice
11. Any and all guitar instruction DVD’s (sorry Will Landrum, Claude Johnson, Griff Hamlin, et al.)
12. Audio Plug-ins and loops (sorry Sony, iZotope, Beta Monkey Music)
13. Video Plug-ins (sorry New Blue Media, Sony Creative, Magic Bullet)
14. Software upgrades (sorry Sony, iZotope, Magic Bullet, BorisFX)
15. Apps (sorry Apple)
16. Other charitable donations (sorry  Girl Scout Cookies, magazine door-to-door folks, squegee guys)
17. Other Campaign donations (sorry MoveOn, SumOfUs.org, People For The American Way, Alan Grayson)
18. No movies, no new DVD’s (sorry Amazon).
19.   No new books. (Again, sorry Amazon)
20. No new pedals. (Sorry Guitar Center, AMS, Sweetwater, SameDay Music)
21.  No new guitars. (Sorry Guitar Center, Sweetwater, eBay)
22. No new eBay purchases (sorry eBay)
23. No new watches (sorry Invicta)

I am sure there is some other fat in my “budget” that can be cut for the cause, and I will do it.  I am not saying the charitable and other organizations aren’t doing good work, I am saying re-electing President Obama is a larger priority for me than the work they do.