The Last of George W. Bush

In the January 2009 Harper's Magazine "Index," not yet available on line, but available in hard copy to subscribers, the editors have done something out of the ordinary. Instead of the usual one page of Harper's Index, the January issue features three full pages of numbers about the Bush administration.

Reading through these facts, I am struck by how effectively fear and greed silenced a nation.

Here are some highlights:

• Number of Bush appointees who have regulated industries they used to represent as lobbyists: 98
• Years before becoming energy secretary that Spencer Abraham cosponsored a bill to abolish the Department of Energy: 2
• Date on which the GAO (General Accounting Office) sued Dick Cheney to force the release of documents related to current US energy policy: 2/22/02
• Number of other officials the GAO has sued over access to federal records: 0
• Months before September 11, 2001, that Cheney's Energy Task Force investigated Iraq's oil resources: 6

That's when I had to stop for a moment, and I was only a third down the first of three pages. Because just last week in his interview with Charlie Gibson, Bush claimed: "I wish the intelligence had been different, I guess." There are many in this country and abroad who believe that everything was cooked to justify an invasion to get a hold of that oil.

• Minimum number of laws that bush sighing sttements have exempted his administration from following: 1,069
• Estimated number of US intelligence reports n iraw that were based n information from a single defector: 100
• Percentage of Baghdad residents in 2007 who had a family member or friend wounded or killed since 2003: 3/4
• Portion of his presidency he has spent at or en route to vacation spots: 1/3

I read that and could only imagine how much more trouble we would be in if he had been a harder worker!

• Portion of all US income gains during the Bush Administration that have gone to the top 1% of earners: 3/4
• Number of White House officials in 2206 and 2007 authorized to discuss pending criminal cases with the DOJ: 711
• Number of Clinton officials ever authorized to do so: 4
• Percentage of EPA scientists who say they have experienced political interference with their work since 2002: 60
• Days after Hurrican Katrina hit that Cheney's office ordered an electric company to restore power to two oil pipelines: 1
• Days after the hurricane that the White House authorized sedning federal troops into New Orleans: 4
• Ratio of the entire US federal pudget in 1957, adjusted for inflation, to the amount spent so far on the Iraq war: 1:1
• Percentage change in US discretionary spending during Bush's presidency: +31
• Percentage change during Reagan's and Clinton's, respectively: +16, +0.3

And as if we needed more:

• Rank of Bush among US presidents with the highest disapporval rating: 1