Harper’s Index

Number of news stories from [1990s|1998] to [Democracy|Election] Day 2000 containing “George W. [GeorgeWBush|Bush]‚” and “aura of inevitability‚”

Amount for which [GeorgeWBush|Bush] successfully sued Enterprise Rent-A-[Driving|Car] in [1990s|1999]

Year in which a political candidate first sued [Florida|Palm Beach County] over problems with [Democracy|hanging chads]

Total amount the [GeorgeWBush|Bush] campaign paid Enron and Halliburton for use of corporate [AirTravel|jets] during the 2000 recount

Percentage of [GeorgeWBush|Bush]’s first 189 appointees who also served in his [GeorgeHWBush|father]’s administration

Minimum number of [GeorgeWBush|Bush] appointees who have regulated industries they used to represent as [Corruption|lobbyists]

Years before becoming energy secretary that Spencer Abraham cosponsored a bill to abolish the Department of Energy

Number of Chevron [Oil|oil] tankers named after [CondoleezzaRice|Condoleezza Rice], at the time she became foreign policy adviser

Date on which the [GAO|GAO] sued [DickCheney|Dick Cheney] to force the release of documents related to current U.S. energy policy

Number of other officials the [GAO|GAO] has sued over access to federal records

Months before [September11|September 11, 2001], that [DickCheney|Cheney]’s Energy Task Force investigated [Iraq|Iraq]’s [Oil|oil] resources

[Hours|Hours] after the [September11|9/11] attacks that an [Alaska|Alaska] [HouseOfRepresentatives|congressman] speculated they may have been committed by “eco-terrorists‚”

Date on which the first contract for a [Literature|book] about [September11|September 11] was signed

Number of [MiddleEast|Middle Eastern], [Asia|South Asian], and [Africa|North African] [Men|men] detained in the U.S. in the eight weeks after [September11|9/11]

Number of them ever charged with a [Terrorism|terrorism]-related [Crime|crime]

Number charged with an [Immigration|immigration] violation

[Days|Days] since the [FederalGovernment|federal government] first placed the nation under an “elevated terror alert‚” that the level has been relaxed

Minimum number of calls the [FBI|FBI] received in [Fall|fall] 2001 from [Utah|Utah] residents claiming to have seen [OsamaBinLaden|Osama bin Laden]

Number of box cutters taken from U.S. [AirTravel|airline] passengers since [January|January] 2002

Percentage of Americans in 2006 [Ignorance|who believed] that U.S. [Islam|Muslims] should have to carry special I.D.

Chances an American in 2002 believed the government should regulate [Comedy|comedy] routines that make light of [Terrorism|terrorism]

Rank of Mom, Dad, and [RudolphGiuliani|Rudolph Giuliani] among those whom 2002 [College|college] graduates said they most wished to emulate

Number of members of the rock band [RockMusic|Anthrax] who said they hoarded [Anthrax|Cipro] so as to avoid an “ironic death‚”

Estimated total calories members of [Congress|Congress] burned giving [GeorgeWBush|Bush]’s 2002 State of the Union standing ovations

Percentage of the amendments in the [BillofRights|Bill of Rights] that are violated by the [HomelandSecurity|USA PATRIOT Act], according to the [ACLU|ACLU]

Minimum number of laws that [GeorgeWBush|Bush] signing statements have exempted his administration from following

Estimated number of U.S. intelligence reports on [Iraq|Iraq] that were based on information from a single defector

Number of times the defector had ever been interviewed by U.S. intelligence agents

Date on which [GeorgeWBush|Bush] said of [OsamaBinLaden|Osama bin Laden], “I truly am not that concerned about him‚”

[Days|Days] after the U.S. invaded [Iraq|Iraq] that Sony [IntellectualProperty|trademarked] “Shock & Awe‚” for [VideoGame|video games]

[Days|Days] later that the company gave up the [IntellectualProperty|trademark], citing “regrettable bad judgment‚”

Number of [Literature|books] by [HenryKissinger|Henry Kissinger] found in [Iraq|Iraqi] Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz’s [Wealth|mansion]

Number by then–[NewYorkTimes|New York Times] reporter Judith Miller

Factor by which an [Iraq|Iraqi] in 2006 was more likely to die than in the last year of the Saddam regime

Factor by which the cause of death was more likely to be [Violence|violence]

Chance that an [Iraq|Iraqi] has fled his or her home since the beginning of the war

Portion of [Baghdad|Baghdad] residents in 2007 who had a [Family|family] member or friend wounded or [Death|killed] since 2003

Percentage of U.S. [Veterans|veterans] from the wars in [Iraq|Iraq] and [Afghanistan|Afghanistan] who have filed for disability with the VA

Chance that an [Iraq|Iraq] war [Veterans|veteran] who has served two or more tours now has [PTSD|post-traumatic stress disorder]

Number of all U.S. war [Veterans|veterans] who have been denied Veterans Administration health care since 2003

Number of eligibility restrictions for admission into [Army|the Army] that have been loosened since 2003

Percentage change since 2000 in U.S. emigration to [Canada|Canada]

[Seconds|Seconds] it took a [Maryland|Maryland] consultant in 2004 to pick a Diebold [Democracy|voting] machine’s lock and remove its memory card

Number of U.S. states [JohnKerry|John Kerry] would have won in 2004 if votes by [Poverty|poor] Americans were the only ones counted

Portion of all U.S. income gains during the [GeorgeWBush|Bush Administration] that have gone to the top 1 percent of earners

Percentage change since 2001 in the average amount U.S. workers spend on out-of-pocket [HealthCare|medical expenses]

Estimated percentage by which [SocialSecurity|Social Security] beneÔ¨Åts would have declined if [GeorgeWBush|Bush]’s privatization plan had passed

Percentage change since 2002 in the number of U.S. [Teenager|teens] using [Drugs|illegal drugs]

Percentage change in the number of adults in their ??fties doing so

Number of times [FDA|FDA] of??cials met with consumer and patient groups as they revised drug-review policy in 2006

Number of times they met with industry [HouseOfRepresentatives|representatives]

Amount the [JusticeDepartment|Justice Department] spent in 2001 installing curtains to cover two seminude statues of Justice

Number of [RepublicanParty|Republican] of??cials who have been investigated by the [JusticeDepartment|Justice Department] since 2001

Number of [DemocraticParty|Democratic] of??cials who have been

Number of White House of??cials in 2006 and 2007 authorized to discuss pending [Crime|criminal] cases with the DOJ

Number of [BillClinton|Clinton] of??cials ever authorized to do so

Years since a White House of??cial as senior as [Corruption|I. Lewis Libby] had been indicted while in of??ce

Number of U.S. cities and towns that have passed resolutions calling for the impeachment of [GeorgeWBush|President Bush]

Percentage change since 2001 in U.S. government spending on [Mendacity|paper shredding]

Percentage of [EPA|EPA] [Science|scientists] who say they have experienced political interference with their work since 2002

Change since 2001 in the percentage of Americans who believe humans are causing [GlobalWarming|climate change]

Number of total additions made to the U.S. endangered-[LivingOrganism|species] list under [GeorgeWBush|Bush]

Average number made yearly under [BillClinton|Clinton]

Minimum number of pheasant hunts [DickCheney|Dick Cheney] has gone on since he shot a hunting companion in 2006

[Days|Days] after [HurricaneKatrina|Hurricane Katrina] hit that [DickCheney|Cheney]’s ofÔ¨Åce ordered an electric company to restore power to two [Oil|oil] pipelines

[Days|Days] after the hurricane that the White House authorized sending federal troops into [NewOrleans|New Orleans]

Portion of the $3.3 billion in federal [HurricaneKatrina|Hurricane Katrina] relief spent by [Mississippi|Mississippi] that has benefited [Poverty|poor] residents

Percentage change in the number of [Louisiana|Louisiana] and [Mississippi|Mississippi] newborns named [HurricaneKatrina|Katrina] in the year after the [Disaster|storm]

Rank of Nevaeh, “heaven‚” spelled backward, among the fastest growing names given to American newborns since 2000

Months, beginning in 2001, that the [FederalGovernment|federal government]’s online [Condoms|condom] fact sheet [Censorship|disappeared] from its [Internet|website]

Minimum amount that [Religion|religious] groups received in [Congress|congressional] earmarks from 2003 to 2006

Amount such groups received during the previous fourteen years

Percentage change from 2003 to 2007 in the amount of [Money|money] invested in U.S. faith-based mutual funds

Average annualized percentage return during that time in the [Christianity|Christian] and [Islam|Muslim] funds, respectively

Number of feet the [September11|Ground Zero] pit has been built up since the site was fully cleared in 2002

Number of 980-foot-plus “Super Tall‚” towers built in the [Arab|Arab] world in the seven years since [September11|9/11]

Year by which the third and final phase of the 2003 “road map‚” to a [Palestine|Palestinian] state was to have been reached

Estimated number of the twenty-five provisions of the first phase that have yet to be completed

Number of times in 2007 that U.S. [Media|media] called General David Petraeus “King David‚”

Percentage change during the first ten months of the [Iraq|Iraq] war “surge‚” in the number of Iraqis detained in U.S.-run [Prison|prisons]

Percentage change in the number of [Iraq|Iraqis] aged nine to seventeen detained

Ratio of the entire U.S. federal budget in [1950s|1957], adjusted for inflation, to the amount spent so far on the [Iraq|Iraq] war

Estimated amount [GeorgeWBush|Bush]-era policies will cost the U.S. in new [Finance|debt] and accrued obligations

Percentage change in U.S. discretionary spending during [GeorgeWBush|Bush]’s presidency

Percentage change during [RonaldReagan|Reagan]’s and [BillClinton|Clinton]’s, respectively

Ratio in [1990s|1999] of the number of U.S. federal [Jobs|employees] to the number of private employees on government [Corruption|contracts]

Ratio in 2006

Total value of U.S. government [Corruption|contracts] in 2000 that were awarded without competitive bidding

Total in 2007

Number of the five directors of the [Education|No Child Left Behind] reading program with financial ties to a curriculum they developed

Amount by which the [FederalGovernment|federal government] has underfunded its estimated cost to implement [Education|NCLB]

Minimum number of copies [Business|sold], since it was released in 2006, of Flipping Houses for Dummies

Chance that the buyer of a [Housing|U.S. home] in 2006 now has “negative equity,‚” i.e., the [Finance|debt] on the home exceeds its value

Estimated value of Henry Paulson’s [Gold|Goldman] Sachs stock when he became Treasury Secretary and [Business|sold] it

Estimated value of that stock today

Salary in 2006 of the White House’s newly created Director for Lessons Learned

Minimum number of [GeorgeWBush|Bush]-related [Literature|books] published since 2001

Number of words in the first sentence of [BillClinton|Bill Clinton]’s memoir and in that of [GeorgeWBush|George W. Bush]’s, respectively

Minimum number of nicknames [GeorgeWBush|Bush] has given to associates during his presidency

Number of associates with the last name Jackson he has dubbed “Action Jackson‚”

Number of press conferences at which [GeorgeWBush|Bush] has referred to a question as a “trick‚”

Number of times he has declared an event or outcome not to be “acceptable‚”

Rank of [GeorgeWBush|Bush] among [USPresident|U.S. presidents] with the highest disapproval rating

Average percentage of Americans who approved of the [Jobs|job] [GeorgeWBush|Bush] was doing during his second term

Percentage of [Russia|Russians] today who approve of the direction their country took under [JosephStalin|Stalin]