A website that sells insurance has selected “40 Essential Consumer Advocate Blogs” and this one — www.WatchdogNation.com/blog — is one of them.

Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation is honored to be included on the list that includes such wonderful consumer advocates as Clark Howard, Consumers Union and ConsumerAffairs.com.

Watchdog Nation is listed as No. 5 on the list, behind The Consumerist and above Nader.org.

Watchdog Nation was founded by Dave Lieber

The site describes Watchdog Nation this way: “If a company or politician is doing something crooked, you can bet Watchdog Nation will report it here.”

The site also states: “Businesses, generally speaking, exist for the sole purpose of making money. While many of the products and services they provide often actively benefit consumers, others put profit over their safety, health and overall well-being. Lucky for shoppers, loads of resources out there can help protect them from these unscrupulous and irresponsible companies.

 ”Whether you’re a student trying to save money, a parent who wants to ensure your children’s toys are safe or just a buyer seeking the best values, consumer advocacy blogs provide a great conduit to research information protecting you from fraud and injury. While there are a plethora of great sites out there, we’ve listed a few here that we think are great resources. Visit them and start learning how to stand up for your rights as a consumer, enjoy better prices and find out what laws protect you from bad business.”

 Check out the entire list here. Why not bookmark them for future reference?

Visit Watchdog Nation Headquarters

Like Watchdog Nation on Facebook

Watch Watchdog Nation on YouTube

Twitter @DaveLieber 

Are you tired of fighting the bank, the credit card company, the electric company and the phone company? They can be worse than scammers the way they treat customers. A popular book, Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong, shows you how to fight back — and win! The book is available at WatchdogNation.com as a hardcover, CD audio book, e-book and hey, what else do you need? The author is The Watchdog columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Visit our store. Now revised and expanded, the book won two national book awards for social change. Twitter @DaveLieber 

From Watchdog Nation founder Dave Lieber:

I always told Ruth Wingfield of Arlington that she was the oldest citizen of my Watchdog Nation.

I met her when she was 98. She accidentally wrote a check to her insurance company for $480 when she meant to write $4.80. The company was in no hurry to give her money back. Read that Watchdog Nation report here.

I taught her what to tell banks and insurance companies when they hurt her. Forever after, she shouted into her phone: “Who regulates you? I’m going to file a complaint.”

At her 100th birthday party, I took this video of Ruth Wingfield. Please watch. She’s so wonderful. Here’s a report of her 100th birthday party, too.

She died on Sept. 3, 2011 at age 101.

She always called me Dogpatch Guy.

I always called her my favorite.

Ruth Wingfield, at her 100th birthday party, and the dude she called "Dogpatch Guy"

Are you tired of fighting the bank, the credit card company, the electric company and the phone company? They can be worse than scammers the way they treat customers. A popular book, Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong, shows you how to fight back — and win! The book is available at WatchdogNation.com as a hardcover, CD audio book, e-book and hey, what else do you need? The author is The Watchdog columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Visit our store. Now revised and expanded, the book won two national book awards for social change. Twitter @DaveLieber

Visit Watchdog Nation Headquarters

Like Watchdog Nation on Facebook

Watch Watchdog Nation on YouTube

Twitter @DaveLieber

Can you imagine talking about the worst 10 minutes of your life on a radio show broadcast across America? It’s your first-ever interview on the subject, and the radio host is, as a Texan would say, smart as a tree full of owls. She skillfully takes you through the twists and turns of your public humiliation.

The host for Here & Now, broadcast on 175 National Public Radio stations, is sweet enough about it, but the subject is painful. At one point, she stops the tape and asks you to stop rocking in your chair because the microphone is picking up the squeaking. Nerves! Nope, this ain’t easy.

Then she surprises you and asks if you have a Father’s Day message for America?

That’s what happened to me today. Me! Dave Lieber, a Texas newspaper columnist. Of all people. I’m a Bad Dad. At least, that’s the title of my new book, a true-story mystery thriller about what happens when the worst moments of your life go viral … and then the police come looking for you.

Watchdog Nation founder Dave Lieber

Yes, my story is about something that happened to me. But I wrote Bad Dad because it’s something that could happen to you, too. Anyone can have a bad moment; and in a world filled with cell phone cameras, the worst 10 minutes of your life can get shared with the world. It happens every day.

———————————————————————————————————

Can you hear Dave Lieber’s chair squeaking? Listen to the radio interview here.

———————————————————————————————————

A few years back, when my youngest son was 11 years old, I took him for breakfast one morning at McDonalds. He wanted to leave before I was done, and we got into an argument. He kept at it, pushing those worn-out parenting buttons of mine. I threatened: if he didn’t settle down, he was going to walk home, a 15-minute stroll across the street into our subdivision. He’d learn his lesson. But he didn’t believe me.

Well, believe it, son. Moments later, I was driving off, and he was standing in the parking lot, crying and bewildered.

When I returned minutes later, police were waiting for me. Someone had called 911. I was arrested and charged with two felony counts of abandonment and endangerment by a police department I had aggressively investigated for a dozen years in my column for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Then the story went viral, around the world and back. TV news, radio talk shows, blogs and newspaper stories. Everybody had an opinion about whether I was a bad dad or a good dad. (Read Chapter One of Bad Dad here.)

——————————————————————————————–

Talking about your worst moment: Listen to the radio interview here.

——————————————————————————————–

So here I am, my first interview celebrating the national debut of Bad Dad book, a couple of days before Father’s Day.

Radio host Monica Brady-Myerov asks:

Q. “What’s your big take-away from this?”

Me: “This story is really not about me. It’s about everybody else. Because what I see is that anything that happens on any day that goes wrong in your life suddenly can go viral. Everybody has a camera these days. And it’s just a hop, skip and a jump away from you doing something like yelling at your child or spanking them. Someone pulls out an iPhone camera, films it. Next thing you know, Fox News is knocking on your door, as they were with me.”

Q. Dave, since this is your first interview ever, and I mean since this incident took place in 2008, is there anything else you wanted to say or you’ve reflected on that you always wished you could have said to the media but haven’t had the opportunity?

A. … To the audience, I just want to say that I know that many people listening to me are relating because they have children that just push their buttons and sometimes they just want to explode. Just think about me. And remember that it’s better to take a deep breath and step away and calm yourself, or else you’re going to end up writing a book called Bad Dad, or Bad Mom, like me.

Remember: Deep breaths, Dads (and Moms). Happy Fathers Day!

Author Dave Lieber preps his youngest son recently for Dave's daughter's wedding.

Read the touching story of the wedding here.

Read Chapter One of Bad Dad book here.

Read Here & Now’s story about the interview.

Buy Bad Dad at BadDadBook.com. Bad Dad is also available as an e-book.

Watch the video book trailer below.

Two days before Father’s Day 2011, Bad Dad author Dave Lieber released his new book in a national radio interview broadcast on 175 National Public Radio stations on the Here & Now show from WBUR in Boston.

Here’s the 9-minute interview.

Listen to the radio interview here.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Author Dave Lieber

Buy the book here.

Watchdog Nation founder Dave Lieber is thrilled to learn that he will present “Watchdog Nation” at the IgniteDallas 3 event at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2011 at the Granada Theater in Dallas.

Lieber, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s Watchdog columnist, attended IgniteDallas 2 last year and calls it “a way to learn the latest and greatest from creative minds in North Texas. I’m honored to get a shot at this. It’s the most fun!”

- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - -

More Watchdog Nation News:

Watchdog Nation Partners with Mike Holmes

America meets Watchdog Nation/Listen to Fun Radio Interview

Watchdog Nation Debuts New e-Book and Multi-CD Audio Book

- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - -

The nearly 20 presenters each have five minutes and 20 slides to get their point across. Based on a new communication tool called Pecha Kucha (20 slides in mere minutes), IgniteDallas 3 brings folks from all walks of life together for a you-never-know-what-comes-next night thrill.

Lieber says he will show the audience members how they can protect themselves against scammers, thieves and corporate thugs for the rest of their life. In five minutes!

Lieber made a similar presentation to the National Speakers Association/North Texas in December 2010.

Read organizer Danica Mathes’ announcement of the event here.

For ticket information, take a peek here.

Visit IgniteDallas 3 home page.

Follow @IgniteDallas on Twitter

# # #

Visit Watchdog Nation Headquarters

Like Watchdog Nation on Facebook

Watch Watchdog Nation on YouTube

Twitter @DaveLieber

Dave Lieber, The Watchdog columnist for The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, is the founder of Watchdog Nation. The new edition of his book, Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong, is available in hardcover, as a CD audio book, ebook and hey, what else do you need. Visit our store. Now revised and expanded, the book won two national book awards in 2009 for social change. Twitter @DaveLieber

Now on iPad!