Several London Free Press articles caught my attention on Saturday March 30. The first was “MPs take the money and run” about the 1.6% increase in MPs salaries. MPs will now have a base salary of $160,000.

The second was “Top earners get even more” about the provincial sunshine list disclosing how many government workers make more than $100,000.  Apparently there has been an 11% increase in the number of people on the Sunshine list in one year alone.  Apparently over 88,400 Ontario public servants make more than $100,000.

The third was “Verlander strikes it rich” about Detroit Tiger pitcher Justin Verlander recently signing a five year $140,000,000 contract extension that will pay him $28,000,000 per season.

What I found interesting was the language in the articles and commentary related to the headlines. Words and phrases such as “not an April Fool’s day prank”, “fatter pay packets” accompanied the MPs headline.   Words and phrases such as “shocked”, “generous” and “runaway pay hikes are rampant” accompany the Sunshine headline.  Words and phrases such as “illustrious”, “premier pitchers”, “thrilled to keep him” accompanied Verlander’s headline.

 Maybe it’s just me, but the juxtaposition of the articles and language suggests to me that there are much deeper issues that need to be discussed.