BIGLEAF ASTER, AND WISE WORDS FROM A BRAVE MAN

A WELCOME CHANGE IN THE WEATHER

BIGLEAF ASTER...

...FLOWERS

Tuesday, 7:15 AM.  68 degrees F, wind WNW, light.  The humidity is 78%, the barometer predicts rain and there is dense fog over the channel.  Yesterday was beastly hot and humid and we did little in the afternoon and took our evening convertible ride to cool off.  I have a landscape job to hopefully  finish up today so the change in weather is a real blessing.
    Bigleaf Aster, Aster macrophyllus. In the Composit, i.e. sunflower family, is a common flower of the northern forest understory.  Its large basal leaves often cover swaths of the forest floor, and when in bloom the tall flowering stems with their sky-blue flowers can provide quite a show.  There are at least seven varieties of A. macrophyllus, and I won’t venture which this might be.  I see no reference to medicinal use in folk medicine, but the Ojibwe Indians used the young leaves for food, and smoked the plant as a hunting charm to attract deer (I don’t know if they still do, but I am tempted to try it).
    Political commentary. The President has just issued an executive order that eliminates the work and education requirements for obtaining welfare, a cornerstone of the Clinton era legacy of “ending welfare as we know it.”  Why would President Obama alter this acclaimed program by executive fiat (selective enforcement of the law again), without even consulting Congress?  Read Herman Cain’s analysis:
    “So why would Obama get rid of the work requirements? I can think of two reasons – one ideological and the other political.
    The ideological reason is that liberals hated welfare reform from day one. They predicted it would push millions more children into poverty. When it did exactly the opposite, their hatred was not abated in the slightest. They are convinced that the only way for people to get by is the reliability of a check from the government, and to them, the notion that you would replace this security blanket with this strange thing called a job is simply absurd.   
    The political reason is cynical but simple. People who depend on the government to be their primary benefactor vote Democratic, and if their dependence is permanent, then they vote Democratic for life. Even if these folks don’t vote, expanding the welfare rolls will allow for the expansion of the programs all across the country – and the newly hired welfare bureaucrats will vote Democratic, because their subsistence is dependent on the government as well.”
    Wise words from a brave man, who soldiers on, despite the trashing of his reputation by the Left and its media allies.