Matt Fitt Photography

Naomi Klein in Santa Cruz

2008-10-21T11:24:00.000-07:00

Author, journalist, and filmmaker Naomi Klein spoke on “The Shock Doctrine: the Rise of Disaster Capitalism" on Friday, October 17, 2008, at the Rio Theater, Santa Cruz, CA. The sold-out, standing-room-only event was sponsored by the Resource Center for Non-Violence.

The talk was recorded by Skidmark Bob (producer, DJ, and audio-collage-wizard) for Free Radio Santa Cruz. Check out the Naomi Klein post on his excellent blog, PoP dEFECT RADIO.

“The Shock Doctrine” is a groundbreaking alternative history of the most dominant ideology of our time, Milton Friedman’s free-market economic revolution. Naomi Klein challenges the popular myth of this movement’s peaceful global victory. From Chile in 1973 to Iraq today, Klein shows how Friedman and his followers have repeatedly harnessed terrible shocks and violence to implement their radical policies.

“Corporate media constantly refer to the “mistakes” or “missteps” of the U.S. policy in Iraq, or the “incompetence” of U.S. handiling of the Katrina catastrophe. A much darker truth exists. In recent decades, a corporate class and culture has evolved - and taken power in Washington - that thrives on disaster. They create disasters, as in premeditated war [on Iraq], and rush to profit from disasters such as Katrina… The Bush team [after 9/11] … quickly moved to exploit the shock that gripped the nation to push through its radical vision of a hollow government in which everything from war fighting to disaster response was a for-profit venture… . It was a bold evolution of shock therapy.”–Naomi Klein

Richard Dawkins at Stanford

2008-03-12T00:45:00.000-07:00

The rise of religiously motivated threats to scientific practice and instruction in American schools has motivated biologist Richard Dawkins and physicist Lawrence Krauss to engage in a public dialogue on strategies for science education in the twenty-first century. Their open conversation concerning science literacy and related issues began in the July 2007 Scientific American.

They continued their discussion last Saturday, March 9, with a sold-out event at Stanford University's Memorial Hall, in front of a very attentive and appreciative audience... including me, sitting in the front row!

"If we are going to teach
the controversy of evolution,
then we should teach the
controversy of reproduction,"
said Dawkins.
"There is the sex theory
and there is the stork theory,
and they should get equal time."

Jan One Eye Five

2008-01-01T23:18:00.000-08:00

Spent all of New Years Day in a car, feeling... sub-optimal.
Took photos to ease the pain and ended up with this:

View more at Jan One Eye Five

Huntington Gardens

2007-12-26T21:59:00.000-08:00

26 December, 2007:

We did a quickie tour of the Huntington Botanical Gardens in San Marino, CA.
See more here.

London, day 3-5

2007-05-07T18:45:00.000-07:00

Many more places, faces, and hikes up and down the Tube stairs. And more food from other countries. ;-)
See more here.

London, day 2

2007-05-04T22:29:00.000-07:00

Day 2: Took a lovely stroll along the Thames, from the Eye up to London Bridge.
Along the way, discovered a spot with some excellent graffiti art... Clean, modern architecture... and more.

And, of course, I had to go back to the British Museum.

What will tomorrow bring?

London, day 1

2007-05-03T22:22:00.000-07:00

What do geeky photographers do on their first full day in London? Spend the whole day in the British Museum, of course!

So much to see!
Such as, statues from Assyrian palaces.

They had to push me out and lock the doors behind me!