Globe editorials
Short Fuse
February 1, 2009
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Sept. 11: Remembrance, not recess
Tomorrow is the 108th anniversary of the funeral of Queen Victoria. As we recall that solemn occasion all these years later, one thought leaps to mind: Don't Peabody police officers deserve the day off? Well, of course not. But after the Peabody City Council's recent head-scratching decision to make Sept. 11 a paid holiday for police officers, one wonders where this grasping for time off will stop. True, the terrorist attacks of 2001 took a particular toll on brave public safety officers. But Peabody officers weren't among those who helped at ground zero in the aftermath, and not even New York's police officers get the anniversary off. The Peabody move is plainly a sop to a municipal union. Dressing it up in a national tragedy may make some taxpayers feel shy about objecting, but that doesn't make the decision right.Wall Street: The chutzpah award goes to ...
And now, the nominees for the Oscar for corporate chutzpah. First, there's former Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain, who spent $1 million renovating his office last year even as Merrill was readying large layoffs - and who rushed out billions in bonuses to Merrill's blundering herd just before the troubled firm's acquisition by Postal Service: Neither rain, nor snow, nor deficits?
It's a good thing John Potter is postmaster general and not director of the National Park Service, because if he held the latter post, he'd no doubt be threatening to close the Washington Monument. Last week, Potter told a Senate subcommittee that rising costs may force the US Postal Service to eliminate Saturday mail delivery. Now, the idea that Congress will allow reduced mail service is unlikely, and Potter surely knows as much. So why the doomsday scenario? Simple: To make the citizens sigh with relief rather than seethe with anger when the Postal Service announces it can continue six day-a-week service after all - but with yet another increase in the price of stamps.
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