June 13

 We did get sun for part of yesterday. We had rain overnight which is continuing and pretty cool temperatures. My plants are loving that. With the wind we have had over the last couple of days forced my trellis to lean badly. I took it apart yesterday and rebuilt it. Thankfully that wasn't a long process because it was a bit cool to be out in just a t-shirt and jeans. So far it is holding steady and the beans that are beginning to clime it.

Every time Kevin McCarthy opens his mouth he demonstrates how brain damaged he is. A reporter asked him about The Former Guy storing those document boxes in various places including a bathroom. Ole Spineless McCarthy flippantly mentioned that he thinks bathrooms have locks on the doors. A commentator this morning noted that bathroom locks are locked from the INSIDE not the outside. My own comments were a bit saltier. So someone (anyone) could have visited the loo that has been "designated" a "secure facility" because it has a door with a lock and peruse the documents while they take a shit.

Bill Astore makes the observation that "Education Is About Social Control." He is absolutely right. Education has always about social control. The Puritan settlers in Massachusetts insisted that parents had a duty to educate their children so they could read the Bible and be productive citizens. In the 1830s Catherine Beecher advocated public education with young women teachers because they were cheaper than the men and were thought to be the "civilizers" of the young. Beecher especially focused on the needs of the frontier to inculcate into the children of the untamed wilderness fit for good middle class, Victorian society. The education pundits of the late 19th century viewed a country over run with immigrants many straight off Eastern European farms and migrants from our own farms, and a growing industrial system that needed obedient, reasonably literate, punctual and sober workers. The notion that education should open minds to new ideas that would allow them to question and, perhaps, challenge the status quo was the last thing on their minds. That concept had a hey day during the 1960s and 1970s and the results elicited a speedy backlash. Instead education was recast as a utilitarian necessity for those who wanted to get ahead in the society as it is. The attitude was summed up by a politician at the time (can't remember who exactly) that students "should kick the tires." Astore is right in noting that our education is not geared to train students to think about future problems creativity. We are like generals--preparing of for the last war.