THE IDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury  A Wheel of Fortune contestant, one Reginald Somebody, answered matter-of-factly to host Ryan Seacrest’s query about life goals.  Reginald answered soberly. “My dream is to hawk beer in every Major League Baseball park in America.”  Sure enough, Reginald prevailed on that night’s show, winning $24,626. Stationed nearby were his mom and cousin. Seacrest typically  controls conversational

THE IDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury It’s usually a “ho-hum” thing when my Uncle Mort calls. If it’s about business, I make sure to “think monkey” in front of it.  Recently, his “jabber” included details of his “blind hog luck” while fetching groceries from the thicket’s general store. His visit coincided with the arrival of the bread truck, this time

THE IDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury It should come as no surprise to those of us who have reached “geezerhood” that our ear drums are challenged annually by random sounds–from up and down, here, there and all around.  It’s the sounds of New Year’s resolutions crashing against the floor. Sometimes we cry, creating a tear-filled pond en route to becoming

THE IDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury As the hours of 2025 dwindled to single digits, Americans FINALLY heard a new sports expression that is NOT likely to catch on. The guy from ABC-TV–describing the Michigan/Texas football game in Orlando–uttered a couple of ill-fitting words as he attempted to explain that one line shown on TV screens during football games is

THE IDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury Often, I believe, writers spend too much time on the “what was” and “what will be” instead of the “what is.” I admit to such whimpering occasionally, and this time, make no promises to do better, but I’ll try. Keep in mind, though, that my promises–if golf shots–typically veer off to both the left

THE IDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury I’m weary of TV and Internet ads, namely those promising more than is usually delivered. My focus today is largely on outlandish appeals thrust upon us by lawyers and political candidates. (If lawyers omitted references to 18-wheelers, their commercials would be significantly shorter.) Much of my frustration can be traced to my computer‘s delete

THE IDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury If all the COVID-19 stories were laid end to end and submerged, it might be a good thing. Most of us think of this acronym (Corona Virus Disease-2019) in negative terms. However, just as some first century Christians wondered if anything good could come out of Nazareth, surely Jesus smiled and cut them much slack.

HE IDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury Since when  do I feel the freedom to “lump” more kinfolks into the bin already spilling over with “we-should-have-known-better” contents? Regrettably, we must make room for one more–my wife’s cousin.  Paula Ward–wedded to Jason Ward of Christchurch, New Zealand, 13 years ago–is a native Texan. The couple resides in his homeland, almost halfway around

THE IDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury How used cars are marketed shouldn’t matter to my ancient Uncle Mort. After all, he swore off use of traditional transportation in the late 1900s when they started pricing gasoline in dollars instead of cents. Now, he motors around the thicket in a golf cart.  Much matters to Mort, though, period.  So the announcement