Harper's Bush Years Index

The Harper’s Index: A retrospective of the Bush Era is up online. You can’t see all of it without subscribing, but you can still see a lot of it. It’s funny, tragic, and maddening all at the same time. Here are some highlights or lowlights pending your opinions:

Number of members of the rock band Anthrax who said they hoarded Cipro so as to avoid an “ironic death”: 1

Number of all U.S. war veterans who have been denied Veterans Administration health care since 2003: 452,677

Minimum number of times that Frederick Douglass was beaten in what is now Donald Rumsfeld’s vacation home: 25

Portion of all U.S. income gains during the Bush Administration that have gone to the top 1 percent of earners: 3/4

Minimum number of calls the FBI received in fall 2001 from Utah residents claiming to have seen Osama bin Laden: 20

Number of incidents of torture on prime-time network TV shows from 2002 to 2007: 897

Number on shows during the previous seven years: 110

And finally, so many Republicans give FDR grief for all the government money he spent on the New Deal or LBJ for the New Society, well how about this:

Estimated amount Bush-era policies will cost the U.S. in new debt and accrued obligations: $10,350,000,000,000

I’d rather spend money on a New Deal or a New Society any day.