Harper’s Index

Minimum number of the 10 biological materials suspected in Iraqi warfare research that were supplied by U.S. firms: 9

Number of biological materials with military potential sent to Iraq by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control in the 1980s: 14

Ratio of Iraqi chemical-warfare agents destroyed in the Gulf War to those since destroyed under U.N. pressure: 2:5

Estimated ratio of veterans reporting Gulf War syndrome symptoms to total U.S. Vietnam War combat deaths: 4:1

Months after Martin Luther King Jr. publicly called the U.S. the “world's greatest purveyor of violence” that he was killed: 2

Maximum fine for begging without a permit in Orlando, Florida: $500

Minimum distance, in feet, that Orlando beggars must maintain from those they ask for money: 3

Ratio of the average amount a U.S. family spent on food, clothing, and shelter last year to what it spent on taxes: 3:4

Percentage of Germans who believe that those who don't cheat on their taxes “deserve only pity”: 46

Chance that an American would rather be mugged than audited: 1 in 2

Portion of IRS audits that are conducted on large corporations: 1/500

Portion of fines levied and underpayments cited by the IRS each year for which large corporations are responsible: 1/2

Ratio of the net worth of the richest 1 percent of U.S. households to the size of the national debt: 2:1

Amount that U.S. health-care professionals owe in defaulted student loans: $107,000,000

Rank of chiropractors among those most likely to default: 1

Number of CAT scans a Minneapolis radiologist performed last year on violins: 10

Number of Astoria Federal Savings ATMs in New York City at which transactions may be conducted in Yiddish: 31

Percentage change since 1965 in the number of kosher delis in New York City: -88

Number of Florida matzo dealers currently under investigation for price-fixing: 9

Percentage of Americans who believe that Jesus Christ sinned during his lifetime: 42

Percentage who believe that senators have “very high ethical standards”: 2

Chance that a woman first elected to the U.S. House or Senate before 1993 was a congressional widow: 1 in 4

Percentage of Americans who say they would not want their 21-year-old daughter to intern in the Clinton White House: 44

Ratio of bacteria living in a pound of mud to those living in a pound of dirt: 1,000:1

Rank of chemical fertilizer among the top agricultural products the U.S. exports to China: 1

Percentage of the raw materials bought by Mexican maquiladoras last year that came from Mexican suppliers: 2.1

Percentage of crimes reported in Mexico City since 1993 that have been solved: 3.7

Chance that a U.S. criminal defendant is acquitted by reason of insanity: 1 in 427

Percentage of U.S. hospital deaths that follow a decision to withhold treatment: 70

Ratio of the average volume of a breast implant inserted in the U.S. to that of one inserted in Europe: 3:2

Length, in feet, of a wooden penis carried through the streets of Komaki, Japan, during a spring fertility ceremony: 8.3

Chance that an American man believes that oral sex does not constitute adultery: 1 in 8

Chance that an American woman believes this: 1 in 9

Months after Bill Clinton's inauguration that heterosexual fellatio was legalized in Washington, D.C.: 4

Number of states in which the practice is still illegal: 14

Number of states in which it is illegal to publicly disparage a particular foodstuff: 13

Number of complimentary doughnuts Bob Dole receives each week as part of his Dunkin' Donuts contract: 60

Number he distributed to reporters waiting outside Monica Lewinsky's Watergate apartment last February 2: 48

Amount that the Paula Jones Legal Fund has spent since 1994 on “pet care” for a dog named Mitzie: $95

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