Augusta Chronicle

Aug 16, 2010 (The Augusta Chronicle - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Politics, it seems to me, for years ... has been concerned with right or left instead of right or wrong.

-- Richard Armour Nobody likes those "robo calls" -- the recorded messages from politicians soliciting our vote.

I wrote last week that I use them to make my list of who should not get my vote, and Edith Flynt agrees. She writes: "They do nothing to endear the candidates to me. Quite the contrary. I can't turn the phone off because if my family or friends have an emergency and need to reach me, they can't." She adds this solution: "I think the candidates should give us their home phone numbers so we can call them during dinner, nap time or reading time to tell them whether or not we appreciated the call." Darrel McKenzie was also irritated with this modern campaign tactic.


"You were RIGHT ON about all the phone calls and direct mailings. Anyone with that many connections, and that much money to mail to all the Republican voters across the state of Georgia DEFINITELY has been in government WAY TOO LONG. Whatever happened to ... the 'Tea Party' and getting rid of all these people?" THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: I called my stockbroker yesterday and asked him what I should be buying. He said, "Canned goods and ammunition." AUGUST TRAVELS: Manga Halsningar and Ashley Taylor send greetings from Stockholm, "a city of castles, churches, historic buildings and beautiful people, and the Baltic Sea! The weather is perfect ... and the people don't mind speaking English." Phyllis Badke was in Chicago for another reunion for Korean War POWs. She also got in visits to Wrigley Field and Soldier Field.

Pat Harder, of Augusta, along with Dee Dee Davis , Josh , Tara and Auggie and Elizabeth were having a great time at Carolina Beach.

Ruth and Ed Smith , of Martinez, got in a visit to Hilton Head Island, S.C. Sandra and Shirley Johnson sent postcards from Philadelphia, Maryland and Virginia. Kathy Czarnecki also sends two more cards from Virginia.

Ed and Donna Vanderhoff , of North Augusta, say they enjoyed the PGA golf tournament in Verona, N.Y.

And David Bell sends two cards from Croatia. "Today we rode bicycles ... on the Dalmatian Coast," he writes. "The history is fantastic and the beauty spectacular." TODAY'S JOKE: Here's one from Bill Wood , of Hephzibah: It seems a lady went to the doctor for her yearly physical. The nurse started with certain basics.

"How much do you weigh?" she asked.

The lady said, "135." The nurse put her on the scale. It turns out she weighed 180.

The nurse asked, "Your height?" "5-foot-4," the lady said.

The nurse checked and saw that the lady measured 5-2.

The nurse then took her blood pressure and told her that it was very high.