CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR CLOWN

May 30, 2026 LRS

When I was 16 years old I registered for the military draft as a Conscientious Objector. You can too.

(Painting by Ron English)

A conscientious objector (CO) is an “individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service” on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, and/or religion. In some countries, conscientious objectors are assigned to an alternative civilian service as a substitute for conscription or military service. Some conscientious objectors consider themselves pacifist, non-interventionist, non-resistant, or antimilitarist. The international definition of conscientious objection officially broadened on March 8, 1995 when the United Nations Commission on Human Rights resolution 1995/83 stated that “persons performing military service should not be excluded from the right to have conscientious objections to military service.” That definition was re-affirmed in 1998, when the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights document called “Conscientious objection to military service, United Nations Commission on Human Rights resolution 1998/77” officially recognized that “persons [already] performing military service may develop conscientious objections.

The most famous American conscientious objector. Cassius Clay Jr. ( MUHAMMED ALI) was an Olympic gold medal winning boxer and 3 time professional Heavyweight boxing champion in the life of his boxing career. In 1964 Clay converted to Islam and changed his name to Muhammed Ali. In 1966 Ali was drafted for the Viet Nam war. He refused to be inducted and applied as a conscientious objector. His application was denied by the local draft board. His title and boxing license were temporarily suspended. Ali took his case to the Supreme Court and was eventually granted CO status and returned to boxing.

MAHATMA GANDHI is the father of India. During that country’s fight for independence Gandhi was their political and spiritual leader. He was the pioneer of resistence to tyranny through non-violent mass civil disobedience. But Gandhi was more than just a wise man in a loin cloth. He was educated in London as a lawyer. During the Boer War in South Africa Gandhi served as a Sargeant Major in the British Ambulance Corps.

EVERY PACIFIST IS A CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR. NOT EVERY CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR IS A PACIFIST.

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AGREEMENT

May 29, 2026 LRS

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“DOESN’T ANYBODY BELIEVE ME?

“Doesn’t anybody believe me?“–Dorothy

“Of course we believe you, Dorothy…“–Uncle Henry in ‘The Wizard of Oz’

Is reality really real?

As Dorothy discovered when she returned back to Kansas, her friends and family did not agree that the Land of Oz was “reality”.

Conversely, gaining agreement from one’s friends does not guarantee that the information agreed upon is true or workable or survival. Agreement is not necessarily reality. Although Man seems to crave agreement with his fellows, the fact that “everyone agrees that the world is flat” or that “the sun revolves around the Earth”, does not make it a reality.

History has shown that agreements among people have very frequently proven to be disastrous.

Example: Adolph Hitler gained the complete, unabated agreement of the majority of the German population before he led them into total self-destruction.

Lots of people agree when fast food franchise advertisements tell them that cheeseburgers, fries and milk shakes are good for them. We were, and still are, told, based on “medical research” that these foods contain nutrients from all the “four basic food groups”. This doesn’t change the fact that you get fat, develop hardened arteries and die an early death from heart disease or cancer if you keep eating cheeseburgers, fries and shakes.

The unprecedented multi-billion dollar profit margins earned by the beef and dairy industry and sugar growers in cooperation with the fast food restaurant cartels have a heavy influence on “truth in advertising”. In addition, the quality of information we receive, as consumers, from the American Medical Association regarding “the science of nutrition” is directly influenced by fast food commercial interests.

Only one generation ago the Japanese people were nearly free of heart disease and cancer. In just 20 short years, since they have openly adopted the Standard American Diet (SAD)–cheeseburgers/French fries/milk shakes and liquid caffeine-filled sugar water called cola–the incidence of heart disease and cancer among the Japanese people has skyrocketed. The Japanese agreement with Western lifestyles is killing them.

Reality is often heavily influenced by the Oz Factor of agreement. Agreements influence our perception of reality. A child’s perception of his environment, his religious and political ideas and viewpoints about people are often heavily influenced by agreement with his mother and father.

Be cautious with whom you agree. Carefully examine ideas and information before you agree. Just because the preacher says, “sex is evil” or the President says, “I’m not a crook”, does not make it reality.

Be careful about agreeing with Wicked Witches and Wizards who promote unworkable solutions. By your own observation decide what is real in the Physical Universe and in Your Own Universe. Your reality is based on your agreements.”

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SIMPLE LOGIC

May 29, 2026 LRS

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SOLVING MYSTERIES

May 29, 2026 LRS

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“IT REALLY WAS NO MIRACLE”

“She brings you good news. Or haven’t you heard? When she fell out of Kansas, a miracle occurred.”–Glinda

“It really was no miracle. What happened was just this …”–Dorothy in ‘The Wizard of Oz’

Whether an event is a miracle or not is relative–it depends on the person you talk to. What is their understanding of the events or evidence presented to them? What is their level of technology? How diverse and sophisticated is their own experience?

The Munchkins seem to agree with Glinda, that compared to their own experience, a house falling from the sky, which happens to kill a wicked witch, is a miracle. They know that the Wicked Witch of the East is dead and Dorothy was in the house that killed her. So, to them, Dorothy is a heroine. She is given a heroine’s welcome parade, a bouquet of flowers, a huge lollipop, and she inherits the Ruby Slippers. It’s not exactly a road map back to Kansas, but at least the natives of Munchkinland are appreciative of her inadvertent help.

As outside observers, our point of view on this rather pathetically illogical misinterpretation and misrepresentation of events is quite different. We have seen the beginning of the movie. We’re not afraid of witches because we don’t live in Munchkinland. We also know it’s just a movie, and that we can get up and go home after the show.

As a result, we are more reliable sources of information than the Munchkins, or the Good Witch of the North, for the following reasons:

1/ We have an external viewpoint to the Oz Universe.

2/ We have no vested interest in the Land of Oz.

3/ We are familiar with both Kansas and Munchkinland.

4/ As the audience, we also have the experience of viewing the black and white beginning of the film, so we know that Dorothy is using real-life characters to play fictional parts in the creation of her own Technicolor universe.

Yet, without an external observer to step into the movie to give her advice, Dorothy is still stuck in the Land of Oz.

So, the inexperienced Munchkins and their guardian witch in a flying bubble, tell Dorothy that she has to take a hike on the Yellow Brick Road to look for some wizard who they all seem certain will know how to get back to Kansas.

On Earth, the average scientist, who is trying to figure out the answers to the primordial questions of life, the history of planet Earth, the origins of life forms, global ecological and environmental problems, etc., has even more disadvantages than Dorothy:

1/ An Earth scientist hasn’t been on Earth since the beginning of “the movie”.

2/ An Earth scientist is one of the “Munchkins” himself. This means that he or she is subject to the fears, superstitions, economic pressures, personal viewpoints and lies told by the wicked witches of Earth.

3/ An Earth scientist doesn’t have a Yellow Brick Road to follow or Ruby Slippers to protect him from wicked witches who care only about their own vested interests (such as big corporations and governments with lots of money to spend on advertising and flying legal monkeys).

4/ There is no Wizard in the Emerald City of Earth to solve problems for them.

A logical method of evaluating whether or not we are on the right road to finding our way back home, or to answering the primordial questions of life, could be summed up as follows: A SCIENTIFIC THEORY OR A PERSONAL VIEWPOINT IS ONLY AS USEFUL AS IT CAN BE DEMONSTRATED TO SOLVE THE MYSTERY OR THE PROBLEMS IT ADDRESSES. WHEN THE THEORY OR VIEWPOINT CAN BE DEMONSTRATED TO SOLVE THE PROBLEMS OF THE SUBJECT IT ADDRESSES, IT IS NO LONGER A THEORY OR VIEWPOINT. IT IS A “WORKABLE SOLUTION”.

Lawrence R. Spencer, excerpted from the book THE OZ FACTORS

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