Short Fuse

CEO salaries: Executive excess
Feeling poorer lately? Maybe it's just in relation to your boss. The annual survey of executive compensation is out this morning, and it finds that in 2007, the average pay of an S&P 500 company CEO was 344 times the salary of an average worker. Thirty years ago, chief executives averaged only 30 to 40 times the average American paycheck. No one begrudges people getting rich. But some compensation deals are unfairly rigged. Just look at the top 50 hedge fund managers, who earned an average of $588 million last year. That's more than 19,000 times an average worker's pay. And, these titans get to pay a lower income tax rate than their secretaries! Some people really know how to celebrate Labor Day.

County office: Send in the pros
No one is challenging John Buonomo in the race for Middlesex County register of probate, and all indications are that he is running for reelection. Never mind that he was suspended from office by the Supreme Judicial Court after being charged with stealing from government-owned copy machines -- accusations buttressed by police surveillance videos. The courts will assess his guilt or innocence, but his case raises another question: Why is register of probate an elected office in the first place? As an administrative job with little policymaking power, it should be filled by appointment. It shouldn't be what it is: a political fiefdom.

Abortion: Ignorance isn't bliss
One of George W. Bush's first acts as president was to impose a gag order on family planning agencies overseas, prohibiting them from mentioning abortion services to women with unwanted pregnancies, even in countries where abortion is legal. Now he wants a gag order in the United States. Under the guise of a conscience clause, a new Bush regulation would "protect" doctors and nurses who oppose abortion not just from participating in one, but even from informing women of the option or referring them elsewhere. Antiabortion activists are forever pushing "right to know" regulations requiring women to be shown pictures of their developing fetus, but when it comes to a safe and legal abortion, it is better to be kept in the dark.