BARBWIRE by ANDREW BARBANO Pirate Laureate of the High Desert Outback of the American Dream

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In his seminal 1972 book "The Presidential Character," Duke University Prof. James David Barber (1930-2004) took the four Carl-Jungian personality types "long familiar in psychological research" and applied them to presidents.

During the sensational hearings for U.S. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, I seized upon Barber and a treatise applying his typology to the judiciary by former Nevada Supreme Court Chief Justice Al Gunderson (1930-2010). My 15 Sept. 1991 Clarence column traveled far, including the Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Legal Journals. Links at Barbwire.US/

I accurately predicted Thomas' tenure and used that analysis as a basis to correctly forecast Obama's presidency. (Tribune 12-20-2009)

Largely quoting Barber, Gunderson summarized the four types this way: "Passive-positives are after love. Passive-negatives emphasize their civic virtue. Active-positives most want to achieve results...social productivity. Active-negatives aim to get and keep power. The relation of activity to enjoyment tends to outline related clusters of characteristics which set apart the compliant, withdrawn, adapted and compulsive types."

Gunderson said "the core of Barber's theory is that character — the basic stance a person takes toward official experience — comes in four varieties...defined according to (a) how active he or she is and (b) whether or not he or she appears to enjoy political life. The activity baseline refers to what one does, the (affection) baseline to how one feels about doing it."

"In Barber's system, both are crude clues to character," Gunderson stated.

ACTIVE-POSITIVES: Jebya Bush, Chris Christie, John Kasich, Bernie Sanders. (Presidents Bill Clinton, Bush the Elder, JFK, Franklin and Teddy Roosevelt, Chief Justice Earl Warren and the greatest justice, William O. Douglas)

Jebya actively pushed tax cuts for his buds and created the ungrateful Marco Rubio. Kasich, like Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, went against GOP dogma and expanded Medicaid under Obamacare. Bernie, well, you know.

ACTIVE-NEGATIVES: Hillary Clinton, Ted Cruz, Carly Fiorina, Martin O'Malley, Donald Trump (Herbert Hoover, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Justices Felix Frankfurter, Harry Blackmun)

A year or so back, veteran nationally syndicated columnist Richard Cohen wrote that the media should not misunderstand Mrs. Clinton: "She hates you." As did Nixon.

O'Malley's draconian administration as mayor of Baltimore led directly to recent race riots. Cruz thinks nothing of Nixonian dirty tricks to win elections. Witness his Iowa deceptions.

Trump? According to Barber, the active-negative "has a persistent problem managing aggressive feelings. Life is a hard struggle to achieve and hold power, hampered by the condemnations of a perfectionistic conscience."

PASSIVE-POSITIVES: Ben Carson — "receptive, other-directed character whose life is a search for affection as a reward for being agreeable and cooperative rather than being personally assertive," as Barber described the type. (Presidents Obama, Bush the Lesser, William Howard Taft, Ronald Reagan, Warren Harding; Justice Thomas)

PASSIVE-NEGATIVES: Mike Huckabee, Marco Rubio (Presidents Dwight Eisenhower, Calvin Coolidge, Chief Justice Warren Burger, California Gov. Jerry Brown).

PN's can do OK until they must act. Ex-general Ike became paralyzed when southern civil rights crises arose. Jerry Brown did nothing about the Mediterranean fruit fly infestation until it was too late, knocking him out of politics for years.

Rubio's principal qualification seems to be that he looks good on television.

Vote at your own risk later this month.

Be well. Raise hell. / Esté bien. Haga infierno. (Pardon my Spanglish.)

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BARBWIRE WEB EXTRAS... TOMORROW'S NEWS TODAY: FEEL UP YOUR FIRE METER. The Reno Gazette-Journal did big spreads on threeconsecutive Sundays (Sept. 14, Sept. 21 and Sept. 28, 2014) on NV Energy smart meter fires. Welcome aboard. Barbwire readers were two years ahead on the fire meter issue. (Touch a Smart Meter, Go to Jail — 11 October 2012)

FIRE METER UPDATES: THE NEVADA FIRE MARSHALL'S INVESTIGATION concluded "don't worry, be happy." I'm still worried and will continue fondling NVE's precious equipment —> If your smart meter feels very hot, not just from sunshine, call 911.

In its Sunday 21 Dec. 2014 front page headline major story, the Reno Gazette-Journal published results of the NVEnergy-commissioned "don't worry, be happy" echo study. On 1-27-2015, the RGJ published an analysis based on veteran reporter Anjeanette Damon's review of more than 1,000 pages of documents. Barbwire bottom line: NVE handles this like auto manufacturers handle defects —> It's cheaper to pay legal settlements after people are injured or killed than to fix the problem.

Don'tcha worry 'bout a thing! If you can't trust your power company, whom can you trust?

DIDN'T THEY MAKE A MOVIE CALLED "THE INCREDIBLES"? On 2-6-2015, the RGJ reported that the Public Utilities Commission has ordered NVE to hire an independent laboratory to review the material. UPDATE: The report said all is well. I still recommend feeling up your fire meter on a regular basis.

ANTE INTO THE GAME: Support the new season of Barbwire.TV by putting your money where my mouth is. A thousand thanks to those who keep sending show suggestions.

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  I encourage you to donate to the cause at Barbwire.TV/ The medium that shapes public opinion needs at least one refuge where it is not filtered through the distorted green eye shades of prissy corporate accountants for whom profit is the only priority; where self-censorship is the journalist's normal work environment and where all sins of omission are tacitly encouraged and forgiven with the wave of a balance sheet. This is important. We've got a lot of work to do

Get ahead of corporate-influenced news—>Subscribe to Barbwire Confidential.

Be well. Raise hell. / Esté bien. Haga infierno. (Pardon my Spanglish.)

Andrew Barbano is a 47-year Nevadan, chair of the Nevada César Chávez Committee, producer of Nevada's annual César Chávez Day celebration, first vice-president and political action chair of the Reno-Sparks NAACP, labor/consumer/civil rights advocate, member of Communications Workers of America Local 9413/AFL-CIO and editor of NevadaLabor.com and JoeNeal.org and DoctorLawyerWatch.com/ As always, his opinions are strictly his own. Check local listings for other Nevada cable systems. E-mail barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us. Barbwire by Barbano has originated in the Sparks Tribune since 1988.

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Copyright © 1982-2016 Andrew Barbano

Andrew Barbano is a 47-year Nevadan, editor of NevadaLabor.com and JoeNeal.org; and former chair of the City of Reno's Citizens Cable Compliance Committee. He is producer of Nevada's annual César Chávez Day celebration and serves as first vice-president, political action chair and webmaster of the Reno-Sparks NAACP. As always, his opinions are strictly his own. E-mail barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us.

Barbwire by Barbano moved to Nevada's Daily Sparks Tribune on Aug. 12, 1988, and has originated in them parts ever since.
Whom to blame: How a hall-of-famer's hunch birthed the Barbwire in August of 1987
Tempus fugit.

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