Monthly Archives: April 2015

Ted Cruz Is a Presidential Contender???

Politics

“It just takes a random billionaire to change a race and maybe change the country.” TREVOR POTTER, a Republican campaign finance lawyer, talking about Robert Mercer, a Wall Street hedge-fund magnate who is believed to be the main donor behind a network of four “super PACs” that recently raised $31 million for Cruz’s campaign.

I wasn’t going to blog about Ted Cruz, but after seeing his commercial on television, I just couldn’t resist. First off, it seems way too early for campaign commercials, and I really hope I don’t have to see this one a gazillion times, because it’s a real beaut.

Three seconds into the spot, viewers see the Cruz family praying. Twelve seconds later, viewers see some children praying. Twenty seconds in, viewers see another person praying. Praying in and of itself is not the issue. I pray all the time.  But we’re talking about a 30 second spot. Give me some meat Cruz.

Ted Cruz, the first Hispanic U.S. senator from Texas (R), officially declared his bid for president with his first television ad of the 2016 campaign cycle over Easter and Passover weekend.

What I took away from his commercial, is that he supports praying.

But what else does Ted Cruz support and is he presidential material?

Here are a few interesting facts (at least to me) about Ted Cruz, the 44 year old senator with a mere two years of experience in elective office.

  • The senator’s full name is Rafael Edward Cruz.
  • Ted Cruz was born in Canada. Since his mother, Eleanor, was born in the US, he was a dual citizen of Canada and the United States—until he renounced his Canadian citizenship in June of 2014.
  • Cruz’s father is an evangelical pastor who has said that President Obama should be “sent back to Kenya,” is a lot like Fidel Castro, and that Obama “seeks to destroy all concept of God.” Okay, we’re talking about his father here, but a lot of people are judged by the company they keep.
  • Cruz has proclaimed himself as a steadfast conservative who would stand for Christian ideals, and undo much of President Barack Obama’s agenda.
  • Cruz, who attended Harvard Law School, once declared that some members of the faculty were “Marxists who believed in the communists overthrowing the United States government.”
  • Cruz stopped listening to rock music after 9/11 because he “didn’t like how rock music responded.”
  • Cruz does not believe that global warming is supported by data.
  • Cruz is opposed to same-sex marriage and if he were to be elected President of the United States, promised to “uphold the sacrament of marriage.” Cruz has also been one of the biggest defenders of the Indiana religious freedom law, and forcefully argued this week that the outrage over the law is an “assault” on the First Amendment.
  • Although Cruz is described as one of the GOP’s Hispanic stars, he has taken positions that are out of sync with most Latinos. Cruz has introduced legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which is strongly supported by Hispanics, and he is against “amnesty” for the undocumented.
  • Cruz wants to do away with the federal government’s tax collection agency. He thinks we “ought to abolish the IRS and instead move to a simple flat tax where the average American can fill out taxes on a postcard.”
  • Cruz voted against Hurricane Sandy relief.
  • Cruz voted against the Violence Against Women Act.
  • Cruz voted against John Kerry’s nomination for secretary of State.
  • Cruz avidly supports gun rights guaranteed by the Constitution’s Second Amendment. He has said that “Congress should not create new legislation restricting the rights of law-abiding Americans.”
  • Two tea party groups — the Club for Growth and the Senate Conservatives Fund — are Cruz’s two largest campaign contributors.
  • Cruz does not play well with others. His brash style has inspired less than flattering name-calling from both sides of the aisle. Harry Reid once described him as a “schoolyard bully,” while John McCain called him a “wacko bird.”

To be clear, I have no interest in Ted Cruz. My interest is in seeing how many Americans actually buy into his “values.”

My Birthday, First Night of Passover & Good Friday

Family & Relationships

Whenever I hear the phrase “Born on the 4th of July,” it reminds me of my own special birth mantra: Born on Good Friday.

As a child, I was often reminded by my Catholic maternal grandmother, who raised me and raised me up, that because of my Good Friday birthday, I was forever blessed.

As Friday’s child, she would tell me that I was loving and giving because this was my destiny.

She also believed that as a Good Friday child, I would be forever protected because Jesus gave His life that day so that all may live.

Ironically enough, as a young child growing up in the slums of Bridgeport, Connecticut, I didn’t feel protected or blessed at all.

Heck, I wasn’t even born Catholic. I was baptized Greek Orthodox at birth and was subsequently baptized Catholic at age six in order to attend first grade at St. Ambrose Catholic School. My entire public school kindergarten memory is filled with bullies and getting beat up every day—totally and wholly unprotected. Being baptized Catholic created for me a glimmer of hope that my bullying days would finally be over, although that’s not how it went down.

I spent the next 24 years as a practicing Catholic until, at age 31, I converted to Judaism, a nerve-wracking decision that caused a stir in my Catholic family.

The stir did not include my grandmother — she died at age 64 when I was 30 years old and one year before I converted. (Yes, you’re reading our age difference correctly.)

Had my grandmother lived, I would have never converted to Judaism because my final decision to walk away from my religion was based on an unfortunate decision a Catholic priest made — denying her of her Last Rites. And although I converted, I was never able to denounce my Catholic beliefs.

The great religious celebrations of Easter and Passover are very special and significant for me this year because the first evening of Passover coincides with the solemn Christian commemoration of Good Friday.

I feel incredibly pious and faithful because what this convergence means for me is that the celebration of the Catholic Paschal Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday) will be aligned with the Jewish Passover feast.

If you check the Jewish calendar, Jesus died on April 3, 33, which is also the date of Good Friday this year. And based on my research, the last time that the Roman calendar, the Jewish calendar, and the Western Liturgical calendar coincided was in 1863.

And since Passover starts every year on the 15th day of Nissan, and the Hebrew months are based on a lunar (moon) cycle, the first night of Passover, when Jews sit down to their Passover Seder, is always a full moon.

But the coincidence and confluence that makes this occasion so very special and blessed for me is that my birthday is April 3, and this is the first time it has fallen on Good Friday since the year I was born.

My grandmother waited and waited for Good Friday to fall on my birthday again, but it never did. And after she died, I waited and waited for Good Friday to fall on April 3 again, in the hopes of some sort of karmic connection, but it never did.

How utterly thrilled and moved I was when I discovered that not only was my birthday going to fall on Good Friday this year but also that it would fall on the first night of Passover.

So when I say my prayers on Good Friday and the first night of Passover, April 3rd, as an ex-Catholic and practicing Jew, and gaze upon the radiance and splendor of the full moon, I will fondly remember my grandmother and hope that her spirit will be all around me, blessing and protecting, just like she always did in life.