Harper’s Index

Number of [BillClinton|Clinton] officials who were

Number of [GeorgeWBush|Bush White House] officials who are authorized to discuss pending [Crime|criminal] cases with the [JusticeDepartment|Justice Department]

Percentage of Marines stationed in [Iraq|Iraq] who say they agree that “all non-combatants should be treated as insurgents‚”

Date on which the U.S. first proposed a [UnitedNations|Security Council] resolution to disband the monitoring team

Number of U.N. staffers in [NewYorkCity|New York] who still have full-time [Jobs|jobs] monitoring [Iraq|Iraq] for [WMD|weapons of mass destruction]

Average number of liters of bottled water delivered to [USMilitary|U.S. troops] in [Iraq|Iraq] each day

Ratio of the amount of water used to make the containers to the amount of bottled water consumed

Estimated amount of [Oil|oil], in barrels, used to make the bottled-water containers [Business|sold] in the U.S. last year

Portion of [India|Indian] companies that maintain [Gasoline|gas]-run generators and stores of gasoline to use during power outages

Chances that a [Europe|European] industrial plant emitted less CO2 last year than its new EU quota allowed

Percentage who believe their own [Parenting|parents] are to blame for the problem

Portion of U.S. states where the [GlobalWarming|projected climate] in 2100 will not be able to sustain their official [Trees|tree] or [Flowers|flower]

Number of these states where reading scores showed any improvement on a thirty-eight-year-old national test

Number of U.S. states where middle school reading scores have improved since 2002, as measured by the states’ tests

Average amount each of these directors has received from the publishers of reading materials [Business|sold] to [Education|schools]

Number of the five directors of a [Education|No Child Left Behind] reading program who had [Corruption|financial ties] to [Mendacity|curricula] they developed

Percentage who held some [PoliticalLeader|political position] prior to their appointment

Percentage of federal inspectors general appointed by [GeorgeWBush|Bush] and [BillClinton|Clinton], respectively, who had prior audit experience

Number of [GeorgeWBush|Bush] appointees who regulate industries they used to represent as [Corruption|lobbyists]

Percentage of [Britain|British] [Child|children] aged seven to eleven who say they “worry about [GlobalWarming|global warming]‚”

Portion who say they would consider [Suicide|ending their own lives] if ill with a [Disease|terminal disease]

Chance that an inmate serving a life sentence in [Italy|Italy] signed a [May|May] letter asking to be sentenced to death

Number of [Prison|prisons] in [Britain|England] that provide personal trainers for unfit inmates

Minimum price for a [Disney|Disney] World “VIP‚” tour, which includes a personal guide to negotiate the lines at rides

Number of different nationalities represented among the staff at the headquarters of [CocaCola|Coca-Cola]

Number of words spoken by [ClarenceThomas|Clarence Thomas] during [SupremeCourt|Supreme Court] oral arguments since [February|February] 2006

Number by Samuel Alito, the Justice who spoke the second-fewest words

Weight, in ounces, of all the information that passed through the [Internet|Internet] last year

Cost per minute last [Spring|spring] for [Telephone|callers] to the [Vienna|Vienna] public library to have [Literature|literary] [Sex|erotica] read to them

Average number of [Minutes|minutes] callers listened

Portion of Americans who believe there are circumstances in which a [Medicine|medical] patient should be allowed to [Suicide|die]

Minimum number of U.S. [College|colleges] that now offer on-campus sites for the ashes of alumni

Amount the consulates spent last year to repatriate the bodies of [Mexico|Mexicans] who died here

Number of the forty-seven [Mexico|Mexican] consulates in cities across America that have opened since [1980s|1980]

Percentage who said they would be less likely to vote for a [Democracy|presidential] candidate who favored such a plan

Percentage of [RepublicanParty|conservative] voters who said in [May|May] that they favor amnesty for illegal [Immigration|immigrants]

Amount the PAC has paid since then in [Corruption|consulting fees] to Thompson’s son

Amount the political action committee of 2008 hopeful Fred Thompson has given to [RepublicanParty|Republican] causes since 2003

Number of the 525 donors who raised at least $100,000 for [GeorgeWBush|Bush] in 2004 who have yet to support a 2008 candidate

Percentage who say they “neither agree nor disagree‚”