I HOPE I DIE BEFORE THE NEXT RE-FILL

Monday, July 4, 2005
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from Greg Palast's journal

I was in the drug store today out here in Podunk. Some old guy in front of me was picking up his little paper bag of prescription medicine. The lady behind the counter handed him a credit card slip and said, "I'm sorry."

She was sorry because the bill was over $1,200 for the drugs. The old man stared at the charge card receipt and stared at it some more. Hesitating, he signed, then said, "I hope I die before I have to pay for the next re-fill."

He wasn't joking. The lady behind the counter said, "Oh, don't ever say that." And she said it in such a way that it was clear she'd heard the same thought before, in different words, from too many of the old folk that come by.

And I was thinking, "I wonder if he voted for Bush?"

I mean, did he vote for the man who would stop boys from kissing boys, who would allow big stone icons of the Ten Commandments in government buildings,...