To President Obama, on the SCOTUS vacancy

Dear Mr. President:

I know you well enough to know that your staff has undoubtedly already researched and vetted possible candidates for SCOTUS in the event of a vacancy so that you already have a clear idea of whom you wish to place on the court.  You have seven days remaining in the Congressional recess in which to make a recess appointment that cannot be challenged.  Please, Mr. President, have the balls (or as Betty White would say, the vagina) to use this opportunity to undercut gridlock from a Republican Congress which has done neither you nor the nation any favors these past seven years.

Sincerely,

A citizen

Universal Creed, with a Muslim twist

If there is a One True Allah who was before all Time, is now, and will be even after the end of Time, with Time here being defined as the lifespan of the current Universe…

…that Allah is beyond personhood, beyond being, even beyond effability.

…that Allah animates without claiming possession; redeems without requiring gratitude; sustains without exercising authority. 

…that Allah permeates the Universe, energizing all that is in it and shaping the flow of its manifestation throughout spacetime.

…that Allah is a paradox, perpetual yet ever-changing, transcendent yet immanent, metacosmic yet omnipresent, eternal yet omnitemporal.

…that Allah has no name, and has no need of a name, since being the one and One True Allah, there is no other Allah from which to distinguish godself.

…that Allah is the Source of all that is, the Force energizing the manifestation of all that is, and the Way guiding the manifestation.  From our perspective, these are different things, but in reality they are One.

…that Allah is One, neither male nor female, and emanates equally light and dark, good and evil, order and chaos, yin and yang, life and death, integrity and entropy, creation and destruction, everything and nothing.

…that Allah does not reward good deeds or punish ill, nor does it exact karmic retribution for imagined imperfection.

…that Allah does not demand our submission, obedience, penitence, worship, adoration, praise, prayer, confession, thanksgiving, supplication, benediction, love, respect, or even belief.

…that Allah is one that no one can against any other being on Earth—or in the Universe—because that neither takes sides nor has sides.

…that Allah favors none; there is no Anointed One, no Chosen People, no Exceptional Nation, no Elect Species; not on Terra, not in the Milky Way, not in the entire Universe.

...that Allah does not need us nor want anything from us; individual beings are too infinitesimal and ephemeral within the Universe for it to take much note.  That Allah just is, and does not need us nor anything from us.

Love each other being as yourself, both on Earth and across the vast expanse of extraterrestrial space, and do not do to any other being that which you would not wish them to do to you; for that is the only thing that matters.

Stieg Larsson on the stock market vs. the economy

The Swedish journalist, writer, photographer, and political activist who authored the Millennium trilogy and invented one of my two most favorite contemporary fictional protagonists, Lisbeth Salander, aka 'The Girl With the Dragoon Tattoo' (the other being Mr. Robot's Elliot Anderson, played by Rami Malek) had this to say about the global economy and the priorities of the 1%:

“You have to distinguish between two things – the economy and the stock market.  The economy is the sum of all the goods and services that are produced in the country every day.  The stock market is something very different.  There is no economy and no production of goods and services.  There are only fantasies in which people from one hour to the next decide that this or that company is worth so many billions, more or less.  It doesn’t have a thing to do with reality or the economy.”

Universal Creed, theist version

A slight adaptation of two or three other versions of more or less the same thing, each of which avoided any terms even slightly theistic (instead using 'Something', 'the Aught', and 'the Source'), but here using one of the most common terms for the divine, simply 'God'.  If someone's God is not all of these things, then that God is not really much of a God.

If there is a One True God who was before all Time, is now, and will be even after the end of Time, with Time here being defined as the lifespan of the current Universe…

…that God is beyond personhood, beyond being, even beyond effability.

…that God animates without claiming possession; redeems without requiring gratitude; sustains without exercising authority. 

…that God permeates the Universe, energizing all that is in it and shaping the flow of its manifestation throughout spacetime.

…that God is a paradox, perpetual yet ever-changing, transcendent yet immanent, metacosmic yet omnipresent, eternal yet omnitemporal.

…that God has no name, and has no need of a name, since being the one and One True God, there is no other God from which to distinguish godself.

…that God is the Source of all that is, the Force energizing the manifestation of all that is, and the Way guiding the manifestation.  From our perspective, these are different things, but in reality they are One.

…that God is One, neither male nor female, and emanates equally light and dark, good and evil, order and chaos, yin and yang, life and death, integrity and entropy, creation and destruction, everything and nothing.

…that God does not reward good deeds or punish ill, nor does that God exact karmic retribution for imagined imperfection.

…that God does not demand our submission, obedience, penitence, worship, adoration, praise, prayer, confession, thanksgiving, supplication, benediction, love, respect, or even belief.

…that God is one that no one can use against any other being on Earth—or in the Universe—because that God neither takes sides nor has sides.

…that God favors none; there is no Anointed One, no Chosen People, no Exceptional Nation, no Elect Species; not on Terra, not in the Milky Way, not in the entire Universe.

...that God does not need us nor want anything from us; individual beings are too infinitesimal and ephemeral within the Universe for it to take much note.  That God just is, and does not need us nor anything from us.

Love each other being as yourself, both on Earth and across the vast expanse of extraterrestrial space, and do not do to any other being that which you would not wish them to do to you; for that is the only thing that matters.