2008-12-15 Roundup

Nail in the NOW coffin: Women outearn men at top business jobs.

A Carnegie Mellon University study has concluded that women executives out-earn their male counterparts.

The study, which examined 16,000 executives over 14 years, found that women at the top of the business world bring in a bit more than men and are promoted at the same rate, countering the popular notion that women earn less than men for the same work. (snip)

The largest empirical analysis of the top echelons of publicly traded companies determined that women earned about $100,000 more per year than men of the same age, educational background and experience.Via Post Gazette

Mayor Deans calls for obeying Open Records Laws: Well, that's not the headline in the Tennessean but it should have been. Ben Cunningham points out that the new 'rules' Dean set for open records request are minimal and he could, and should, go much further if he really wants to do the job right. Since Dean is also acting as Superintendent of Schools I'll add to Ben's list "ditto for MNPS". Prosperity Project has more. One of Ben's suggestions is:

- Assign staff to review each department's records and determine if important records can be digitized for easy online access by citizens.

For me, getting the full MNPS BOE agenda packet online didn't happen until I talked with the Board Secretary and we realized that the photocopier she was already using to copy the agenda to create the Board's hard copies (being delivered by courier, btw) could also create pdf documents. I suspect there are very few documents that couldn't be digitized. The question will be how to get the system into the habit of doing so. This is where the clerical staff can be our friends.

I'll add to the list that I'd like to see proposed budget documents released in Excel format also so that others can move the numbers around during the discussion of where the money should go.

Did the mayor bring an interpreter or was that Crafton? Rex also comments on the recent celebration of the Japanese emperor's birthday where Nashville Mayor Karl Dean and Councilman Eric Crafton met. Rex found it ironic considering they are on opposite sides of the English as Official Language charter amendment. Rex should have mentioned that of the two gentlemen only Crafton could express best wishes of the day to their Japanese hosts in fluent Japanese.

Goose/Gander: Can someone explain to me how the Faith Leaders for All of Us (Really? ALL of us?) can use The Bible to influence public policy but Two Rivers Baptist or Cornerstone Church can't? What's the difference? Oh, that's right...they're not LEFT-wing fundys.

And one more on left-wing fundys unable to MoveOn: Someone torched Gov. Sarah Palin's church over the weekend. Let's hope they were unaware that the church was occupied at the time or else let's call this attempted murder and lock 'em away for their lives. Donations can be mailed to: Wasilla Bible Church, 1651 W. Nicola Avenue, Wasilla Alaska 99654