Category Archives: Media

The Growing Turf War Over Your Point of View

Have you noticed just how snotty, not to mention sanctimonious, the mainstream Needia has been of late? The ivory tower of established, mainstream journalism is under attack and they do not like it one bit. So, the major broadcast Face Plates go on camera bemoaning the Internet siege of their authority and of what they believe to be hallowed ground…their exclusive (although delusional) right to own your point of view. The networks have long believed they are called upon, uniquely, to give you your opinion.

Oh, oh. Someone is shaking the cage!

The turf war is full on.

I often hear the term “Wild West” used by many in the Needia to describe and attack the Internet and its bloggers who dare to challenge them. I don’t know about you, but I dig the free-range aspects of the blogosphere. Our country was built on the rough and tumble of our past.

Lately, the Face Plates have been crying about the anonymity of some bloggers. Truth be told, I am not a fan of bloggers using fake names. I figure if you are going to have an opinion, whether caustic or optimistic, you should own up to it, make it yours. If you’re going to make a stand, square your shoulders and put your signature on it. What we pen, we should be proud of.

That said, in the battle between bloggers and broadcast, I’m backing the bloggers.

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The Shakeout for The Brian Brawdy Show Will Be Live

I think you call it  a “Shakeout.”  Where you give an idea a “dry run” before you go live with the real, full-on version. Working out the kinks, looking for any bugs, any flaws in your plan? Apparently, I’m not all that bright.

The mobile studio (my Lance Camper and Trailer) is ready for its first test. Yikes! The live-kickoff is finally here for The Brian Brawdy Show. You and I will find out together just how crazy an idea this is.

This afternoon at 5:00 PM EST I will broadcast live from The Rally at the Kentucky Exposition Center via MotoSat Satellite to Livestream.com/brianbrawdy.

Now, if everything goes correctly, you will be able to comment via Twitter and Facebook while the show is in progress. Next week, the live call- in aspect will be added as will the full audio/video/graphics package.

So, before you hop in the shower and get ready for your Saturday night, please join me for the launch with my special guest, Bob Livingston.

I would like to extend a very personal “thank you” to Mr. Keith Olbermann for his terribly instrumental roll in finally pushing me over the edge or as I like to call it, “Kudos to Keith.”

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Keith Olbermann the Motivation Behind the Brian Brawdy Show

The very first time I contemplated my own news commentary show, the thought came to me immediately following a viewing of the Keith Olbermann Show on MSNBC. Setting the remote down, I shook my head and thought aloud, “You’ve got to be kidding me.” My countdown was on. Starting July, 24th (originally the 22nd) I will be streaming via the web The Brian Brawdy Show.

My goal? To gain as many web viewers as Mr. Olbermann has Nielsen numbers. Plain and simple.

Granted, I don’t have “an Ivy League education” like my competition. I went to West Virginia University, and though I did major in Political Science, I spent more time at the Blue Tick Tavern practicing quarter bounce than attending class, so my stay was short lived. I think I have 6 whole credit hours with a minor in french fries and blu cheese. Clearly, I’m overly qualified for the job at hand and I am so excited to start piling up the numbers, but I will need your help. Your suggestions, critiques and viewership are most certainly welcome.

You might also consider the latest dust-up on The Daily Caller. Seems Tucker Carlson and the DC crew now own KeithOlbermann.com and my main media rival isn’t happy.

This is going to be a blast!

That said, challenging Mr. Olbermann is just a side note.

Centering on “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness” in every day ways, the Brian Brawdy Show, full of attitude without apology  focuses on breaking news, commentary, political analysis and techniques for surviving and thriving in a world where freedom and liberty are waning. With roughly 70,000 pages added to the Federal Register every year, enacted laws, rules and codes are encroaching upon our liberties at every level of government and at an alarming rate.

I’ve always focused on wilderness and emergency survival, I just never thought circumstances would necessitate becoming a political survival expert as well. The 21st Century and the current political climate changed all of that.

As the countdown continues, please feel free and encouraged to…

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Fox News and Megyn Kelly Fumble in Voter Intimidation Report

Fox News and Megyn Kelly, not to mention Trace Gallagher, owe their viewers an apology. OK…let’s wait together. Hmm, Hmm, Hmm, Hmm, Hmm. Megyn? Hello? Apology please. Still waiting….Can someone get Roger Ailes on the phone?

While reporting on the the Philadelphia voter intimidation case, Megyn, Trace and a hand full of undisclosed producers at Fox News teased a video of the New Black Panthers Samir Shabaz just before a commercial. You know SS. The guy with the club standing outside the voting booths in Philly that sparked the current DOJ case. When the show returned and Megyn tossed it to Trace Gallagher, he claims the video “too incendiary” to air. What? “We report. You decide.” Huh? What?

FOX NEWS: We redact. You decide.

Megyn, Megyn, Megyn. Show us. Don’t shield us.

Now, true, the video is an angry, verbally-violent and racist rant by Mr. Shabaz. As a “cracker” not an easy clip to sit through. That this type of racial anger still exists is truly sad and unfortunate. The only thing more disappointing is the decision by Fox News to “protect us” from news that they perceive to be “too incendiary.”

FOX bleeped out the vulgarity during the first airing; OK. If FOX wants to air a warning, a disclaimer prior to the video, OK as well. But to tease the video and then chicken out during the commercial break is not what we need.

Today, some news is “incendiary.” Here’s the thing, though. That news is combustible makes it worthy of broadcast. News, albeit too hot to handle, should not be too hot to report. In the end it’s the only news we can use; why shield us from the news we need to see? Reporting the truth, as despicable and explosive as it can be, is the only news that stands a chance of making a difference in our world.

“Brian, Brian, Brian why let truth taint the process?”

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Propeller Grounds Brawdy Article Questioning Supreme Court Justice

You gotta love free speech. Well, not everyone does. My article of yesterday, The False Advertising of Sonia Sotomayor drew attention on the Propeller social networking website. That’s the good news. The not so good news? Because eight users opted to “drop” the article, the equivalent of a “No” vote, the Propeller organization took the following action. “This story has been grounded by your fellow Propeller readers, due to excessive down voting.” I should also say that last month I was threatened with removal from Twitter Twibes because of an article I wrote questioning President Obama. I was called a “spammer” and a “crazy person” and warned of my pending expulsion.

Though I absolutely respect the right and opinion of the users that dropped the above article, and totally respect the right of the Propeller organization to “ground” an article, I am disappointed in their decision.

That the article is critical of the Obama administration, the Republicans and Democrats of the Senate Judiciary committee, the flawed nomination process and a sitting Supreme Court Justice, the grounding reflects some of us simply can’t stand any negative commentary as it pertains to our current President.

Speech and opinion that is contrary to the norm, in my estimation, should be the most protected speech of all. Unpopular speech, thoughts outside the mainstream are those most in need of protection. When a government moves to “ground” dissent, we should all take notice and umbrage. When we do it to each other, we should all stop and pause. Squelching alternative viewpoints because we believe them to be wrong, is not always right.

When we decry the current Congressional attempt to create a “kill switch” for the Internet, what does it truly matter if we are killing expression on the Internet ourselves?

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How To Become a Political Survival Expert

Shortly after my Father took his own life in the mid ’80s, I decided to leave law enforcement and go my own way. Since that day, I spent a great deal of time in “the wilderness” trying, amongst other things, to square my mind with his actions. Along the way, I learned to survive in those wild places out of necessity. The need to find shelter, food and water all the while compelled to navigate in unfamiliar surroundings and to survive whatever Mother Nature would throw my way became a passion of mine. Truth be told, I’m a bit of a gear freak as well. Soon, the term “wilderness survival expert” attached.

Admittedly, there are survival skills that are helpful out in the middle of nowhere; I subsequently came to understand however that those same skills worked in urban areas and scenarios (hurricane Katrina jumps to mind)  as well. Survival, I grew to understand, is a mindset. Wherever you find yourself, the skills to survive are as much mental as they are mechanical, as much of temperament as technology. I came to believe that survival is a part of our inherent Buried Logic.

Jump forward to today. Of late, I’ve a realization that I never saw coming; NEVER. Like most impromptu scenarios, they come at the corners of our eye. I never thought I would have to learn how to survive politics, politicians and their overall power grab. Wilderness survival, yes! Wall Street and Washington D.C., no!

Naive, on my part, you bet!

I realize now that our Constitution and the Government it provides us has been nearly hijacked by politicians, political parties, special interest groups, some media outlets and those lawmakers that never saw a situation they didn’t want to legislate themselves out of or in to. Government, is by its nature is a service organization. Most politicians and political parties today are about sustaining power, not public service.

Thankfully, survival and liberty are closely approximated. Navigating Nature or an encroaching political class, regardless of party affiliation, requires the same skill set. You square your shoulders, survey the situation and take action. Survival is your responsibility.

It’s time. I’m trading my backpack for a briefcase and a laptop. I have decide to turn my efforts into political survival and highlighting the skill sets needed for you and I to survive and thrive while confronted with our fading list of freedoms. To that end, I am putting the final touches on The Brian Brawdy Show, my upcoming book Survivalnomics and continuing the blog at BrianBrawdy.com.

The Radio/Video Show will highlight breaking news, commentary and techniques for surviving and thriving in the 21st Century. Brian’s Bottom Line will kick off the show with thought provoking attitude about the daily headlines. Guest interviews, political analysis, Lowlifes Making Headlines and Return To Vendor polls along with the Daily Gullibility Monitor and Worthy/Worthless news of the day will round out the broadcast. The overall goal is to create Political Survival Experts of its listeners and viewers.

The Brian Brawdy Show will be broadcast via satellite from the SRMR, or Self-Reliant Mobile Residence and will initially be web based and housed at LiveStream while the audio will be available via BrianBrawdy.com and iTunes. MauroMedia will be handling the technical aspects and helping me with the creative as well. I am currently negotiating with a national publisher and should have some details shortly on Survivalnomics.

I would love your input, show suggestions and critiques….Please feel free and totally encouraged to comment at

Facebook or Twitter

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Senate Bill: Internet Too Big To Be Free

“The Russians are coming, the Russians are coming!” Oh, wait. “The Chinese are coming, the Chinese are coming!” Hold it. “The International terrorist hackers are coming, the international terrorists hackers are coming!”  What will we do?

Well, we can start by counting our blessings that Jumping Joe Lieberman is here to protect us.

Just when we needed it most, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn was able to swoop in and introduce the Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act, to shield us all from those evil, foreign communist keyboarders.

Forget it. We’re covered. Nothing to see here; Joe’s on the job. Just go on about your business. Go watch the BP hearings or a World Cup Soccer Match. Does anyone know where Lindsay Lohan is today?

I’ll sleep so much better once the government takes broad-brush control of the Internet. Won’t you?

Forget that this bill gives the President, any President, an Internet “on/off” switch in times of a National Emergency. Forget that it’s language is as broad as the power it gives the Executive Branch to quell free speech via the web. Forget that the White House recently used all it forces attempting to malign certain news agencies, deemed to be unsympathetic to the Administration’s talking points, while favoring other “real news” outlets.

“Bri, you’re over reacting. It could never happen on the Internet. Come on.”

Do you find it odd that this bill seems destined to rocket through Congress? Can’t get a budget even 1/2 way done but this bill is way too important to let languish in open debate. Does it seem strange, at all that the main stream “Needia” has pretty much ignored the story?

Hmmm. Let’s see. Who despises the Internet and the free voice it lends to all points of view more than the Needia and Elected Politicians? Interesting, one group wants the bill passed into law just as bad as the other? As the Internet grows, so grows transparency; the politicians have to show us their cards and they don’t like it. As the Internet grows, so goes reader and viewer loyalty to the mainstream Needia outlets and they don’t like it either.

Forget too big to fail. Seems many now believe that the Internet is “too big to be free.”

One last thought. In this day and age you can’t squelch thought, speech or debate by banning or burning books, unless of course your Vladimir Putin.

Free speech has always been a threat to power. Just watch how quickly those in charge now move to control it.

How about a little truth in advertising? Let’s call this bill what it is. The PCNAA isn’t a Cyberspace security act, it’s The Political Insecurity and Instability Act.

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You Can’t Spell Superhero without the “O” in Obama

You can’t spell Superhero without the “O” in Obama. Just ask many in the Democratic party, most in the media and a huge part of the electorate. They’ve created, reported and consumed the myth of a “head of state superhero” that will quell any evil, vanquish all villains and restore the populace with a utopian sense of self. Wrapping ourselves in the childlike belief of a Superman or Wonder Woman to “make everything all right,” we give them our vote and wait for the Great Protector to spring into action, sitting tight until they ride forth and save the day.

That’s a ton of hype for one human to handle.

So what happens when one can’t rise to the level they’ve been elevated, when the clairvoyant Chief Executive falls short of our lofty expectations, when the Providential POTUS fails to materialize? Our disappointment turns to disgruntlement while the many slowly turn on the man. When the delusional God King myth becomes apparent, when the hype proves hollow as the non-fiction slides into fiction, we never blame ourselves; too busy directing our anger towards the target of our projections, I suspect.

Truth be told, you can’t always blame the myth when things go wrong. Myths are manmade, crafted in our minds, invested with our energy, sustained by our hopes and fears. Even though some superstars begin to believe in the inflated claims, convincing themselves of their own eminence, we are the founders of our fairy tales, the makers of our myths.

With all that currently confronts our country from a sliding economy, oil gushers, terrorist threats and natural disasters we’d all be better of to remember that you can’t spell mortal without the “m” in Obama.

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MEDIA: POTUS Needs More Passion

Wow. Just about everyone in the media is screaming for “more emotion” from President Obama. He’s too cool, distant, removed, aloof and unsympathetic for many journalistic outlets bringing us “the news.” Maybe the White House should release a photo of the President throwing a chair or punching a hole in the drywall of the oval office. Maybe he could summon BP’s Tony Hayward to the east lawn and poke the POTUS finger in the CEO’s chest. Maybe he could return to the Gulf Coast with a baseball bat?

I’ve decided to rename mainstream journalism as “The Needia.” The Needia needs us, you and me, to push the President to pound his fist, froth at the mouth and give them an angry soundbite to replay again, again and again. Rational thought never sells airspace like ranting. Conversation falls short of hostility when it comes to booking commercials. Bellicosity is better at selling add space then poised balance. An outraged Obama means increased viewers and sales.

Why? Because we dig hotheads, loudmouths and devils and the Needia needs Nielsen numbers. The networks see dollars in a seething Head of State. A boiling Obama equals big bucks. Period.

Don’t buy into it, don’t be distracted. Growling isn’t going to help the Gulf or it’s people. We don’t need him to go off, we just need him to go to the scene of the spill.

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United States the Most Gullible Country on the Planet?

BREAKING NEWS: U.S. looking to become “The most gullible country on the planet.” Just how easy are we to persuade or deceive? How totally gullible must we seem to politicians, corporate America, lobbyists and media reporters? Watch any news cycle, read any group of blog posts and you truly have to actively suspend your sense of intelligence, your disbelief and your gut feelings or intuition. As we’re spoon-fed the spin, we seem content sucking it up and swallowing it down. It seems that believing the bravado and BS, duped by the disinformation is now a U.S. pastime.

How thick or how shallow, how dense or foolish must one be to drink the constant flow of Kool-Aid we are offered these days? True, the vapid and the vacuous walk among us. You can’t debate it. That said, what percentage of the voting population falls for the fairy-tail du jour each and every day?

Now I know what you are thinking. President Obama can stop the oil gusher in the Gulf of Mexico, BP didn’t brake and rules or laws leading up to the disaster, President Clinton didn’t offer Joe Sestak a position of value to drop out of the race with Arlen Specter, the National Guard will stop illegal immigration on our southern border, and the health care bill isn’t about redistributing of wealth and on and on and on. Blah, blah, blah.

Soon you will find a daily “Gullibility Index” here on BrianBrawdy.com. Not unlike a UV or Pollen index,  graded on a scale of 1-10, each day I will follow the stories making news and, with the help of my friends on Facebook, Twitter and MySpace will calculate a mathematical dip-stick highlighting just how naive you and I would have to be to trust in what we are being told.

It’s not about conspiracy theories, it’s about common sense, which of late, isn’t as common or as sensical as the term would suggest.

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