Dichotomy...

Why is it that whenever someone says "It's not about the money", it inevitably IS all about the money?

Police in Mass. city would get Sept. 11 pay

PEABODY, Mass. (AP) In what may be a first-of-its kind contract provision, police officers in Peabody will receive holiday pay on Sept. 11.

The new four-year contract between the North Shore city and its police union makes the anniversary of the terrorist attacks a paid holiday, with officers receiving time and a quarter for working on the day.

On the news this morning they were running bullet points about this story where the claim was made that it wasn't about the money.

Well, if it's not about the money, then why time and a quarter?

At a time when state budgets are getting slashed and people are concerned about their jobs, their mortgages, and their retirement funds, for the police department to use September 11^th as a bargaining chip for an extra day off or bonus pay is beyond the pale. NYPD doesn't get the day off, and they were on the front lines of 9/11, literally. For the officers of Peabody, MA, a small city with, as far as I can tell, no ties to the events of 9/11 to bargain for the day off is simply unconscionable.

That is all.