George W. Bush said many, many dumb things. Among the dumbest and most destructive was the concept of an “Axis of Evil” of Iraq, Iran and North Korea.

This does no one any good. I think George W. saw things in a Marvel universe sometimes. The concept of the Comics Code where the superheroes always won and the villians always lost.

But, if you want to change things you need to be more nuanced. You need to talk to evildoers, thugs, dictators and despots. Simply calling them “evil” is the kind of logic that keeps someone like Fidel Castro in power. Take away the US Embargo and bring more capital to Cuba, there is no way that Castro survives. Having the United States as a boogeyman and enemy makes it easier to keep control. If you can blame someone else for your problems, the problems seem easier. It’s not my fault, it’s them. It’s something we do as children.

One of my favorite books is “Pyongyang” by Guy Delisle. It’s a graphic novel about a French-Canadian animators time as an animation supervisor in Pyongyang, North Korea. The society is based on Juche and a near worship of all things Kim. Portraits of the great leaders on wall, pins to wear, it’s surreal and Orwellian. And there is the United States as a boogeyman to look to, can always blame the west for your problems.

Another one of my favorite books it the graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi “Pyongyang” about being a girl during the Iranian Revolution in a liberal family. Iran was once a beautiful place full of rich discussion. It has become a state of fundamentalism, corruption and doctrine. By not engaging with Iran it makes it easier for the government to make the United States the boogeyman, and blame America and the west for it’s issues.

Then we have Iraq. The biggest mess of GW Bush’s speech in January, 2002. A push towards a military conflict with Iraq that ended up as a huge boondoggle. A war that was easy to win, a peace that was impossible. Iraq didn’t have any weapons of mass destruction, but Iraq did try to kill George HW Bush. I think that is part of it. War is never the answer.

Now Barack Obama is engaging with Iran to make it’s nuclear program more transparent. This is a good thing. He is engaging, this is a good thing. But some on the far right and Israel would rather see us bomb Iran or create war. War always leaves causalites. Hatred allows the “enemy” to consider you their enemy. My making an “axis of evil” you only help the countries that disagree with your politics. This only leads to madness.

Clinton did try to negotiate with North Korea, and it would be wonderful to see if start to reunite with South Korea, become less miltaristic and end the 28,500 US troops still in South Korea, which is just insane for such a prosperous country as South Korea. It’s a huge military expense for America 60 years after the Korean War ended. North Korea is madness. A paranoid society that doesn’t even try to feed many of it’s people. It’s a bad, bad place. But giving it the name “evil” through a US president only makes Kim Jong-Un stronger. It’s time to engage, and it’s time to mend very old wounds.

In my more perfect world we would spend more money on diplomats and the State Department and less on guns and “defense.” The US Navy is not always a global force for good. Calling a country “evil” only helps the dictators and despots in power. I am glad to see the US engaging in the challenging prospects of peace instead of trying to start the madness of war. The Iran agreement is a very good thing. I hope that there will be a time the world sees peace. But declaring wars on terror and having mass, unamerican surveillance is not the way to do it.

(c) 2013 Edmund Davis-Quinn

1. I like 3, it’s the magic number and 3*3=9

2. I enjoy looking at numbers, I always have and I am very good at arithmetic and seeing patterns.

3. I have bipolar disorder that is mostly contained but gets really awful during times of transition.

4. I have lived in NYC, Chicago, NY, Claremont (LA area) and Maine and I like Maine the best. I like the way people are down to earth here.

5. My wife Lanna is my best friend.

6. I adore music but dislike modern pop music, modern country and death metal. Not sure why someone screeching behind often good metal instrumentation sounds like a good thing.

7. I love non-commercial radio like WMPG, MPBN and WYAR. I really, really wish WYAR had a better signal.

8. I am more likely to know words to a standard than a modern pop song.

9. I love music but like to be able to control sounds around me. Please don’t play a game with sound in public, and there is no reason to have the keytones on for your phone.

10. I always go beyond the number on lists, always.

11. Johnny Cash is now easily my favorite musician of all time and “Hurt” is the song that got me there, but is now probably not in my top 10 Johnny Cash songs.

12. I have almost 30,000 songs on my ITunes (29.326) now. So I am pretty wedded to it.

13. I don’t really like Apple stuff that much, I have an iPad, but find the company arrogant.

14. I have an MBA and wish I didn’t have it because of the debt and it makes me look for a job like I am both under and over qualified. Over qualified with the degree, under qualified with the resume.

15. I have always feared rejection, which I think has affect my career and my dating life pre-Lanna. Didn’t lose my virginity until 23. I have no idea why the world freaks out about virginity, it’s almost always going to be terrible the first time.

16. I enjoy making poetry and hearing slam poetry. I have missed it since my father past away in April but I just don’t have the psychic energy.

17. Mourning is different every day, but that’s okay.

18. I am still in mourning over both my dad who passed on April 1st, and my father in law who passed away in April, 2012.

19. I told you I go way past the number on lists.

20. Free the verse, free the mind. Rhyming is a gift and I am neither Dr. Seuss or Shel Silverstein.

21. I like to be around people, but would rather talk to a person one on one.

22. If you are talking to someone one on one, please hide your phone or if you can’t turn it off.

23. I like Twitter and Facebook and Smartphones, but I think they are making us more distracted. Turn it off for a while it’s a good thing. If that’s too hard for you have a retreat in the woods.

24. Lists are fun.

25. I am a paper packrat and often don’t like to throw away things including newspapers or magazines until I am done with them.

26. I like some clutter around me. In some ways I wish it could be like work when it leaves the desk on the end of the day.

27. There is no 27.

28. I am silly, I always will be and I like doing on the spot song improvisations like “Weird Al” Yankovic.

29. I love to improv quip with people, but much harder when I am on the stage.

30. I find Facebook things where I am supposed to share very annoying.

31. This is definitely not 9 things.

Was watching the wonderful “Art and Copy” documentary (PBS, 2010) on Amazon Prime tonight ***1/2 and I thought a lot about advertising again. The movie makes the business look sexy. It also shows some of it’s most creative side.

A place like Chiat Day looks sexy.

I remember I was talking to one of the big agencies in college back at Rutgers and they said to contact them later. Of course I didn’t or may have applied and not heard anything.

I have a very non sequential mind. It takes odd tangents. Makes me wonder if I would be good at the business. Advertising is everywhere after all.

The other side of me likes how little advertising I get. I don’t have cable, I listen mainly to non-commercial radio (WMPG, WYAR, MPBN). I see banner ads, I see short ads on YouTube, but it’s hardly the same thing. I like not being barraged by it. I enjoy billboards sometimes, but love the Maine has no billboards. It’s oddly part of our branding now.

I like that I don’t get hit over the head with the Super Bowl, big summer moves, back to school, Christmas, election day … Advertisting is everywhere, but without the big mediums of TV and radio or even billboards you don’t notice it as much. And it’s not the same in print. It can be effective but it’s easier to ignore.

That being said one of the more effective local ads for me is for Bruce’s Burritos in Falmouth, ME. They are simple and talk about running a business. I want to try her stuff. I think I know Erin Bruns now. And I do read the Bollard cover to cover every month. I can’t say that about almost anything right now.

Advertising can be effective. I saw ads for Nano Dentistry at Cinemagic. We needed a dentist and we tried them and like them.

I like seeing ads for shows around town in the Phoenix. It’s easy to read and useful.

But, it’s nice that I don’t feel barraged by advertising.