Harper’s Index

Percentage points by which George Bush Sr.'s approval rating in August 1991 exceeded his son's last August : 11¹

Reelection campaign funds raised by Bush Sr. as of June 1991 and by his son as of last June, respectively : $0, $67,687,000²

Percentage of Americans who believe that George W. Bush was legitimately elected president : 54³

Rank of last year among those in which the largest number of federal records were officially classified : 1⁴

Months before September 11, 2001, that Dick Cheney's Energy Task Force investigated Iraq's oil resources : 6⁵

Years before Enron declared bankruptcy in 2001 that the IRS asked the SEC to investigate the firm : 2.5⁶

Amount in "disgorgement" that the SEC has ordered a former Xerox CEO to pay in connection with alleged fraud : $7,600,000⁷

Percentage of this payment that Xerox will cover : 100⁸

Percentage of Americans who will save less than $100 on their 2006 federal taxes as a result of this year's tax cut : 88⁹

Estimated market value of the usable body parts of an adult human : $46,000,000¹⁰

Age at which a Missouri basketball prodigy was welcomed into "the Reebok family" last May : 3¹¹

Amount, in inches, by which the average North Korean 7-year-old is shorter than the average South Korean 7-year-old : 2.9¹²

Percentage of Botswanans requiring highly active anti-retroviral therapy for whom it is available on request : 100¹³

Percentage of U.S. doctors who say they have not told patients about a treatment because their insurance didn't cover it : 31¹⁴

Chance that a Londoner believes that epilepsy is caused by "evil spirits" : 1 in 20¹⁵

Chances that a person executed as a witch in Iceland between 1625 and 1685 was a man : 9 in 10¹⁶

Percentage change in the number of Colombians killed or disappeared since the U.S. implemented Plan Colombia : +33¹⁷

Number of U.S. troops who have died in Afghanistan and Iraq in the last two years : 354¹⁸

Percentage of Iraqis who said in July that they would rather live under the Americans than under Saddam Hussein : 29¹⁹

Percentage of Palestinians in refugee camps who say that given a choice they would live nowhere but Israel : 10²⁰

Percentage of Jewish settlers in the West Bank and Gaza who say they would relocate if compensated : 83²¹

Number of the U.N.'s 15 ongoing peacekeeping missions that have been in operation for at least a decade : 8²²

Ratio of Liberia's GDP last year to the amount Americans spent on skis : 1:1²³

Rank of Sudan and Belgium, respectively, among 122 countries assessed for water quality : 118, 122²⁴

Chances that farmed salmon contains PCB levels that are 4 times higher than those found in beef : 7 in 10²⁵

Chance on any given day that the only "vegetables" served in a U.S. public school are potatoes : 1 in 2²⁶

Minimum number of states where tuition at one or more public universities will be raised by at least 20 percent this year : 7²⁷

Number of states that require energy companies to derive a percentage of their output from alternative sources : 13²⁸

Year in which House Republicans thrice rejected an amendment to upgrade the U.S. electrical grid : 2001²⁹

Number of Democratic legislators absent for this year's 213n210 vote restricting workers' overtime-pay eligibility : 7³⁰

Number of Virginia Republican Party officials fined this year for eavesdropping on Democratic Party conference calls : 3³¹

Years after the Watergate break-in that deputy campaign director Jeb Magruder admitted hearing President Nixon order it : 30³²

Year in which Donald Rumsfeld gave Saddam Hussein a pair of golden spurs : 1983³³

USERNAME
PASSWORD
Subscriber? · Lost password? Lost username? · More help