American Politics - Re-election of Bush! Plus Update, My Son (personal story)

Hello all.

Well, last week the American Presidential Elections took over almost everything that was happening here in UK, and most of our TV and radio news air-time - and even in leafy outer London. My son is now back home; he and I were both up that night wondering how it was going to go... I stayed up till about 2 am, UK time, when it still looked as if John Kerry might just do it, though George W. Bush was beginning to appear stronger than the day's News had predicted. By mid-day the next day, it was clear here that Bush was won, with Ohio finally called for him. Not many people here were for Bush - certainly not ourselves. This is inspite of the fact that Tom and I are indeed born-again Christians - but that means something different over here. You can in fact separate your politics from your religious faith.

For one thing - I can't see how one can be a serious Christian and support the killing of Muslims and other foreigners, even if they are "enemies", and have been attacking the West (us). Even after the horror of "9/11" 2001 - except in obvious self defence, which I do not think the Iraq War was. And Iraq is still very much a hot war - it is not over. Bush had not won it. How can "gay marriage" or abortion issues take precedence over the relief of poverty or having a heart for the world's poor - or the environment? Poverty is much more at the heart of Christianity. That should have driven several, even most Christians over to the Democrats - but no. They must all be hardline anti-foreign - maybe they think Muslims are not worthy of being considered "equal" to us as human beings. In Britain, moral issues like abortion and gay rights are cross party matters, not tied to one party rather than another.

We in Europe must (reluctantly) accept, as some commentators here have said, that Bush is indeed firmly elected - and hope that he will work more with other groups - like European countries and the UN - in trying to reach a proper solution to both Iraq and other Middle East issues - especially the Palestine/Israeli conflict, which has been a nightmare for most of my adult life (at least since 1960s). I accept that Bush is really cleverer than the UK press and some of the American left have portrayed him - he has lots of cunning, and may merely be dyslexic (his verbal muddles have been food and drink to comedians and cartoonists over here). We must hope that he will want to go down in history as a bridge builder, not just as a heavy-handed war monger. I hope "Dubya" does not consider extending his war aims to Iran, Syria etc.

Now - to my son Tom. He came out of hospital for good (again) last Monday - after a muddle about his bed, and he had a fist fight with another male patient who had provoked him - yet again (this guy had it in for Tom about his Christian faith). The real issue was the lack of beds - the hospital had been cramming in the new patients. After the weekend before he had been "hot-bedded", and shunted around. Although he was in many ways ready to come out, this was a mess. He should have been there for a few more days, to be reassessed. He had to go back the next day for this. He was sent back in a taxi (accompanied by a male nurse), only 2 hours after being taken back there by us after a long weekend out (which went fairly OK).

His assessment confirmed that he was OK to come out - he felt fine about it in the end. We then had to proceed with his new life outside. There are some programmes already set up for him again out of hospital, which he has entered into. We hope that this will be enough to keep him out of serious trouble with drinking. He says he feels more positive, and has made a good start with "AA". The residential Rehab offered to him for December is still doubtful (as he is not only alcoholic but also a psychiatric case), but he is visiting it soon. We are now being told by one social worker:- "If he gets on OK without the live-in rehab meanwhile, maybe he does not really need it?" This is again a Catch 22 situation - he has been fobbed off with all the previous placements he has been offered. He needs something that is deeper and more regular than a hotch-potch (or vague mixture) of outpatient remedies at different places with different regimes and philosophies.

I have recently attended a voluntary Carers' group led by a psychiatric nurse, where a lot of things get aired, and other people have been through many of these hoops before - but no case is the same. It is good to get support though. They also have training days for carers - eg. in coping with symptoms, and how to deal with certain problems (negative or challenging behaviour, and our other relationships).

It is the day after Guy Fawkes' Night (November 5th - yesterday: in the C.17th Guy and his Catholic "mates" tried to blow up the English/British King, James I. The plotters were caught, like modern terrorists are now, then tortured and put to death.). Lots of fireworks are going off as I write. We are not involved in all that now - but we did it (and even had fun with it) when the kids were young. We have to keep our old cat 'Whitton' in to protect him from the noise - it's a bad time for both domestic and wild animals. I am signing off now to cook something for Tom before he goes to another AA meeting. God Bless not only America but the rest of the world, and keep us safe - and especially Tom.

Goodbye, best wishes - and love,
Tigey