Studio Diary #19 Aug. 9 2004

2nd of Aug

Flew back to Los Angeles this afternoon following a month long break in Scotland and the marriage of my wee sister to her beloved Mr Kerr.
Oh man was I reluctant to get on the plane and leave behind my dear old mum and dad and the view from my bedroom window of the firth of forth.Sometimes it's hard living a double life with one foot in the old world and one in the new.
Anyway........I digress...........it's been a long time since I wrote in this journal and so very much has happened and yet at the same time so very little has changed.Bush is still wreaking havoc with antagonistic foreign policy whilst Blair continues to deny that there's even a remote possibility that he might have led the UK into an invasion of Iraq under false pretenses.Hundreds of thousands of people in Sudan are still falling victim to fully fledged genocide whilst the so-called-civilised world sits back on its heels doing precious little about it.Power and money remain the corrupting influences and common people around the world suffer immeasurably as a consequence.Plastic surgery and material possessions continue to be used in a futile attempt at disguising the fact that we are predominantly a cruel and vacuous lot and as yet there remains no answer to global warming or what on earth we are going to do about all the waste products that we continue to dump into the very ground my beautiful neices,beloved nephew and adorable god-daughter are going to inherit.

Mercifully there remains a rare and elusive force at play that somehow or other against all the odds manages to ensure that the world continues to spin,art is created, book and coffee shops stay open until 9pm, cats and dogs, yet to be declared an endangered species, continue to keep us falling into abject misery and hopelessness by agreeing to share our homes and company and the Bush administration is yet to declare alchohol an illegal substance.Better yet.... the attempt to make an amendment to the consitution banning gay marriage failed to make it through the senate.
Sheeesh........what a fucking world we're living in right now.And yet most of the time I still think it's rather lovely ......though strange as that may sound.

Very sad to read about Courtney Love's deteriorating situation and am somewhat dismayed by the distinct lack of compassion extended to her in the media.I can't help but point out the fact that Robert Downey Jnr and Scott Weiland have not been so demonized by their addictions in quite the same fashion as she has.The difference in situation being just what exactly ? Oh..... I get it.She's a WOMAN out of control.Oh well then............

What else has been going on? Brody and I sang backing vocals on a Queens of the Stone Age track a few weeks back and it was so much fun.That girl has a crazy voice.She can really sing and what's even cooler about her is that she has NO fucking IDEA just how good she is.That's what I love about our girl Brody.She's a glorious, no nonsense,fucked up mess.
As for the new Queens of the Stone Age record? It's great. Really REALLY great.You'll love it.
And how Josh Homme is not yet a household name is quite beyond me.

What else? Oh our record?!?!?! Well........what can I say about our record? It's nearly done.At least I think it is.We've yet to submit it to the record company so of course they will ultimately be the judge of that but I am much happier with how things are sounding and we're functioning as a band a little better than we have been in some time! Christ... did things take a weird turn back in October?! I seriously thought we were through.Oh how I wish I could spill all the beans here but certain members of the band would never forgive me if I washed my dirty laundry in public so I will just have to save it for my memoirs (ha ha ha haaa......) but suffice to say..........it got pretty rowdy in garbageland for a while.I must confess.....I loved the drama of it all.I get bored when things stagnate.

Excited to the max about the run up to the Olympic Games as due to the time difference between the US and Athens I will get to ogle the US basketball games as I run on my treadmill in the morning.This will distract me to an unbelievable degree and my hour of enforced cardio will surely never seem so easy.
My sudden awakening to the possibility that sport activity can be enjoyable has really paid incredible dividends.I mean......I know I'm sounding ridiculous but I'm not kidding when I say that I feel less defeated when my monthly depression hits as a direct result of learning that I could run for over an hour if my life depended on it or clock someone with a mean right hook if I really had to.These things that I have learned make me feel more in control of myself.I know that sounds crazy but it's true.
Talking of awakenings............and I know you're probably thinking I need certified by now..... I've also suddenly and abruptly undergone a bizarre awakening to nature.(I am literally laughing out loud as I type because I just know how this must sound!!!!) I'm not kidding!!! All of a sudden I am seeing colours and textures and hearing sounds and smelling scents and just feeling overwhelmed with the beauty of...........well dare I say it?........MOTHER NATURE!!!!!!!!!!
I've been so blind to it all of my life and now all of a sudden it's like I've got extra sensory perceptive specs on or I've dropped large quantities of acid.It's freaking me out!!!
Before I know it I'll be scouting around LA in a hair net and a pair of wellys, pushing a wheelbarrow stuffed with potting plants and fetilizer!! Oh please, oh please assure me you'll shoot me if I do!!!!!
Finally......here's a little something that Butch e-mailed me yesterday.A satirical presidential resume produced by some comically political magazine in the midwest. What's so alarming about it,is that it's all factually based.Do bear it in mind when casting your vote later this year,won't you.

RESUME
GEORGE W. BUSH
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20520
United States

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

Law Enforcement:
I was arrested in Kennebunkport, Maine, in 1976 for driving under the
influence of alcohol. I pled guilty, paid a fine, and had my driver's
license suspended for 30 days. My Texas driving record has been
"lost" and is not available.

Military:
I joined the Texas Air National Guard and went AWOL. I refused to
take a drug test or answer any questions about my drug use. By
joining the Texas Air National Guard, I was able to avoid combat duty
in Vietnam.

College:
I graduated from Yale University with a low C average. I was a cheerleader.

PAST WORK EXPERIENCE

I ran for U.S. Congress and lost. I began my career in the oil
business in Midland, Texas, in 1975. I bought an oil company, but
couldn't find any oil in Texas. The company went bankrupt shortly
after I sold all my stock. I bought the Texas Rangers baseball team
in a sweetheart deal that took land using taxpayer money. With the
help of my father and our friends in the oil industry (including
Enron CEO Ken Lay), I was elected governor of Texas.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS GOVERNOR OF TEXAS

- I changed Texas pollution laws to favor power and oil companies,
making Texas the most polluted state in the Union. During my tenure,
Houston replaced Los Angeles as the most smog-ridden city in America.
- I cut taxes and bankrupted the Texas treasury to the tune of
billions in borrowed money.
- I set the record for the most executions by any governor in American history.
- With the help of my brother, the governor of Florida, and my
father's appointments to the Supreme Court, I became President after
losing by over 500,000 votes.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS PRESIDENT

- I am the first President in U.S. history to enter office with a
criminal record.
- I invaded and occupied two countries at a continuing cost of over
one billion dollars per week.
- I spent the U.S. surplus and effectively bankrupted the U.S. Treasury.
- I shattered the record for the largest annual deficit in U.S. history.
- I set an economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in any
12-month period.
- I set the all-time record for most foreclosures in a 12-month period.
- I set the all-time record for the biggest drop in the history of
the U.S. stock market. In my first year in office, over 2 million
Americans lost their jobs and that trend continues every month.
- I'm proud that the members of my cabinet are the richest of any
administration in U.S. history. My "poorest millionaire," Condoleeza
Rice, has a Chevron oil tanker named after her.
- I set the record for most campaign fund-raising trips by a U.S. President.
- I am the all-time U.S. and world record-holder for receiving the
most corporate campaign donations.
- My largest lifetime campaign contributor, and one of my best
friends, Kenneth Lay, presided over the largest corporate bankruptcy
fraud in U.S. History, Enron.
- My political party used Enron private jets and corporate attorneys
to assure my success with the U.S. Supreme Court during my election
decision.
- I have protected my friends at Enron and Halliburton against
investigation or prosecution. More time and money was spent
investigating the Monica Lewinsky affair than has been spent
investigating one of the biggest corporate rip-offs in history. I
presided over the biggest energy crisis in U.S. history and refused
to intervene when corruption involving the oil industry was revealed.
- I presided over the highest gasoline prices in U.S. history.
- I changed the U.S. policy to allow convicted criminals to be
awarded government contracts.
- I appointed more convicted criminals to administration than any
President in U.S. history.
- I created the Ministry of Homeland Security, the largest
bureaucracy in the history of the United States government.
- I've broken more international treaties than any President in U.S. history.
- I am the first President in U.S. history to have the United Nations
remove the U.S. from the Human Rights Commission.
- I withdrew the U.S. from the World Court of Law.
- I refused to allow inspector's access to U.S. "prisoners of war"
detainees and thereby have refused to abide by the Geneva Convention.
- I am the first President in history to refuse United Nations
election inspectors (during the 2002 U.S. election).
- I set the record for fewest numbers of press conferences of any
President since the advent of television.
- I set the all-time record for most days on vacation in any one-year
period. After taking off the entire month of August, I presided over
the worst security failure in U.S. history.
- I garnered the most sympathy ever for the U.S. after the World
Trade Center attacks and less than a year later made the U.S. the
most hated country in the world, the largest failure of diplomacy in
world history.
- I have set the all-time record for most people worldwide to
simultaneously protest me in public venues (15 million people),
shattering the record for protests against any person in the history
of mankind.
- I am the first President in U.S. history to order an unprovoked,
pre-emptive attack and the military occupation of a sovereign nation.
I did so against the will of the United Nations, the majority of U.S.
citizens, and the world community.
- I have cut health care benefits for war veterans and support a cut
in duty benefits for active duty troops and their families in wartime.
- In my State of the Union Address, I lied about our reasons for
attacking Iraq and then blamed the lies on our British friends.
- I am the first President in history to have a majority of Europeans
(71%) view my presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and
security.
- I am supporting development of a nuclear "Tactical Bunker Buster," a WMD.
- I have so far failed to fulfill my pledge to bring Osama Bin Laden
to justice.

RECORDS AND REFERENCES

- All records of my tenure as governor of Texas are now in my
father's library, sealed and unavailable for public view.
- All records of SEC investigations into my insider trading and my
bankrupt companies are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public
view.
- All records or minutes from meetings that I, or my Vice-President,
attended regarding public energy policy are sealed in secrecy and
unavailable for public review.
PLEASE CONSIDER MY EXPERIENCE WHEN VOTING IN 2004!