missed something

apparently while i was enjoying my week
in the great white north
dick cheney came out and admitted to
directly approving the use
of torture
in the form of waterboarding

it's no exaggeration when the globe's derrick jackson calls this
the most 'cancerous' administration in history

while blowing smoke up the asses of self-styled patriotic
truck-driving bible-thumping xenophobic americans
bush and cheney simultaneously allowed real patriotism
to reach its lowest ebb

shame
shame is what i felt for my country's actions
and this is on george w bush and dick cheney
when meeting a british citizen i feel shame at having
dragged them down with us
when meeting a frenchman i am ashamed that their name
was dragged through the mud
when seeing some old lady in a wheelchair have to get up
to be fingerprinted and photographed before entering the country
even though she doesn't even speak english
and has no idea what's happening

i'm ashamed for us
and for our ideals
on their death bed
for the terrorists
who have won the battle
if not the war

it's a still further shame
that we won't have enough national will
to expurgate this cancer
to hold cheney and others responsible
to show that we truly are better than this

in any case it's going to be a long time before the world
trusts us again

and i don't blame them