From the January 2002 Idaho Observer:

What do you believe?

(a few thought-provoking questions)

Do you believe that the Civil War was fought over slavery and that Abe Lincoln was shot by a racist?

Do you believe that a German ship sunk the Lusitania and that's why we got into WWI?

Do you believe that the Bolshevism which led to the Soviet Union and the Cold War was a grassroots movement with humble beginnings in Russia?

Do you believe that ordinary people demanded the income tax so that their wages could be taxed?

Do you believe that The Great Depression was caused by natural fluctuations in marketplace conditions?

Do you believe that WWII was fought in Europe to stop Hitler from taking over the Western world?

Do you believe that WWII was fought in the South Pacific to keep the Japanese from taking over Asia?

Do you believe that we joined the UN and police the Koreas to stop the spread of communism?

Do you believe that we fought in Vietnam to stop the spread of communism?

Do you believe that affirmative action was designed to give us all a fair shot at the American dream?

Do you believe that 60s counterculture was a spontaneous sociological reaction to cultural evolution?

Do you believe that vaccines rid the world of smallpox by 1980?

Do you believe that AIDS jumped from monkeys into humans all by itself?

Do you believe that the Gulf War was fought to keep Saddam Hussein from taking over Kuwait?

Do you believe that Gulf War Illness is caused by our troops being exposed to enemy chemical and biological agents?

Do you believe there has been an on-going Mid-East peace process?

Do you believe that ground level emissions of CFCs cause stratospheric ozone depletion?

Do you believe that environmental regulations are strictly enforced on military installations?

Do you believe that increasingly efficient internal combustion engines powered by fossil fuels are still cutting edge technology?

Do you believe that the government's war on poverty was intended to be won?

Do you believe that the government's war on drugs was intended to be won?

Do you believe that the government's war on homelessness was intended to be won?

Do you believe that the government's war on sex and violence on TV was intended to be won?

Do you believe that the government's war on teen pregnancy was intended to be won?

Do you believe that the government's war on domestic violence was intended to be won?

Do you believe that there is an important difference between Republicans and Democrats?

Do you believe that the role of the federal government is to protect you?

Do you believe that the United Nations is a benevolent organization working for world peace?

Do you believe that the coming global government will bring prosperity and happiness to the peoples of the world?

Do you believe that the world as it comes to us through network TV and the dominant dailies is the real one?

If you can believe all of those things, then I guess that you can also believe that Sept. 11 was the result of unexpected and unprovoked terrorist attacks; that all which has happened since then is for our own good and everything will be just fine. So go back to sleep -- sorry to have awakened you. (DWH)