Harper’s Index

Chance that an American who was [Education|home-schooled] feels this way

Minimum number of [Tennessee|Tennesseans] who have ordered new license plates bearing the [Racism|Confederate flag]

Average percentage of [AfricanAmerican|African-American] [Men|men] age 16 to 64 in [NewYorkCity|New York City] who were [Jobs|employed] each month last year

Factor by which the unemployment rate of [AfricanAmerican|African-American] [College|college] graduates exceeds that of [Race|white] graduates

Percentage of U.S. companies that threaten to close the work site when faced with a [Labor|unionization] effort

Percentage of senior [Business|management] positions at equivalent U.S. companies that are

Percentage of senior management positions in medium-size [Russia|Russian] [Business|companies] that are held by [Women|women]

Median household income of a U.S. heterosexual [Marriage|couple] with [Child|children]

Median household income a pair of U.S. single [Motherhood|mothers] would have if they [Marriage|married] each other

Percentage of U.S. heterosexual [Marriage|marriages] that are dissolved within five years

Percentage of the 958 [Homosexuality|same-sex] [Marriage|unions] granted to [Vermont|Vermont] residents since [July|July] 2000 that have since been dissolved

Number of times that [Florida|Everglades] [Plants|saw grass] switches gender during a week of [Flowers|flowering]

Minimum number of [Italy|Italian] [Men|men] accused of paying for a “[Sex|sexual] anxieties” diagnosis to avoid military service last [Winter|winter]

Number of suspensions a [Dallas|Dallas-area] high school handed out last [Fall|fall] for [Education|dress-code] violations

Number of [Cattle|Holsteins] disqualified from the [Ohio|Ohio] State Fair last [August|August] because they were wearing a [Fashion|hair piece]

Months into the war that [Britain|Britain] confirmed that all its troops were outfitted with desert [Fashion|clothing]

Chance that an American adult believes that “[Democracy|politics] and government are too complicated to understand”

Number of blank [Democracy|votes] recorded by touchscreen machines in a [January|January] election for [Florida|Florida’s] [HouseOfRepresentatives|House of Representatives]

Votes by which the race was won

Number of Haiti’s elections since 1994 called “bogus electoral exercises” by the State Department’s Roger Noriega

Last year in which one of these elections took place under President Jean-Bertrand Aristide

Percentage of Western Hemisphere countries besides [Cuba|Cuba] whose leaders Noriega believes have been “freely elected”

[FederalGovernment|Federal funds] given last [September|September] to a group organizing the recall of [Venezuela|Venezuelan] president [HugoCh?vez|Hugo Ch?vez]

Minimum number of misleading statements on [Iraq|Iraq] made by the [GeorgeWBush|Bush] Administration’s top officials since [March|March] 2002

Percentage of these that contradicted, made selective use of, or mischaracterized existing government intelligence

[Days|Days] before last year’s invasion of [Iraq|Iraq] that [OsamaBinLaden|Osama bin Laden] called [SaddamHussein|Saddam Hussein] a “socialist infidel”

[Days|Days] into the [1990s|1999] [NATO|NATO] bombing of [Kosovo|Kosovo] that candidate [GeorgeWBush|George W. Bush] observed, “Victory means exit strategy”

Months into the war in [Iraq|Iraq] that all U.S. personnel there were equipped with antiballistic body armor

Estimated percentage of [France|French] schoolgirls who wore an [Islam|Islamic] head scarf to school last [Fall|fall]

Minimum revenue the Sons of Confederate [Veterans|Veterans] stands to collect through such sales

Amount the federal Individual Indian Trust cannot account for, per [NativeAmerican|Native American] it serves

Total overruns at [Boston|Boston’s] “Big Dig” attributed to mistakes and [Business|mismanagement] by the Bechtel Corporation

Percentage of the 13,129 varieties of [Nature|dirt] in the United States that are endangered

Amount that [Hypocrisy|Tom DeLay’s] [Corruption|political action committee] spent at the [WashingtonDC|Washington, D.C.], [SexualAssault|Hooters] last [November|November]

Years in [Prison|prison] to which two [Pentagon|ex-Pentagon] officials were sentenced last year for taking bribes of [Money|money] and [Prostitute|prostitutes]

Number of years a [NorthCarolina|North Carolina] [Men|man] has been in [Justice|prison] for stealing a [Television|television]

[Days|Days] after [Firearms|Smith & Wesson] Holding appointed a chairman last [Winter|winter] that he resigned over old armed-robbery [Crime|convictions]

Caliber of his first [Gun|gun], a Smith & Wesson used for armed robbery