| POSTURING By John Fenton POSTURING THE DOCTOR CALLED IT SHOCKING I CALL IT CONTORTED SHOULDERS ROLLED-IN FOREARMS CLENCHED FISTS SURE LOOKED MEANINGFUL NO! INVOLUNTARY SIGNALS BYPASS THE RAVAGED BRAIN OTHERS POSTURE “BRING IT ON” “INSURGENCY IN THE LAST THROES” SHOCKINGLY NO COMMUNICATION FROM THE BRAIN |
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| Letters to the Editor |
OPINION The Record OPINION COLUMNS Recounting a fallen Marine's last days September 5, 2006 By JOHN FENTON This is the real story of the war in Iraq: young, brave, patriotic men losing their lives for a cause that keeps shifting. IN THE FOUR months since the death of my son, Sgt. Matthew J. Fenton, from injuries suffered in Iraq, I have stated many times the horror of what I saw in the National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Md. Click here to read more. |
| OPINION THE RECORD Your views Thursday, August 24, 2006 I must respond to the statement by Jill Hazelbaker, spokeswoman for state Sen. Tom Kean Jr., concerning Sen. Robert Menendez's call for a time-specific troop withdrawal from Iraq ("War foes mark 1st anniversary of weekly protests in Teaneck," Page L-3, Aug. 15). Hazelbaker stated that Menendez will have to explain his position. I see it entirely differently. Kean will have to explain his backing of the failed Bush policy that at last count has cost New Jersey the lives of 44 young and brave soldiers, including my own son. The spokeswoman uses the classic term defeatism. I am sure "cut and run" is soon to follow, with that old standby "un-American" lurking around the corner. If 2,600-plus lives have not been enough to stabilize and secure Iraq, will 3,000 be enough? Will 5,000 or 10,000? We are failing to secure our own borders. Are these the "horrendous mistakes" Kean talked about? As a member of Military Families Speak Out and a Gold Star father, I have seen enough. What can be more "un-American" than sacrificing more lives for a hopeless predicament? John Fenton Little Ferry, Aug. 20 |
| RECORD OPINION LETTERS TO THE EDITOR War in Iraq: not worth human cost Sunday, February 26, 2006 Finally, Rep. Steve Rothman, D-Fair Lawn, has called for an immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq ("Pull our troops out of Iraq now," Other Views, Feb. 23). This is so welcome and important. At a December 2005 meeting with members of Military Families Speak Out in Bergen County, Rothman declared his support for Rep. John Murtha's bill to withdraw troops from Iraq. However, Rothman added that we shouldn't leave Iraq until we "secure our strategic interests." MFSO responded that this policy was no different from President Bush's. MFSO, the Teaneck Peace and Justice Organization and other groups continued to press Rothman to call for an immediate withdrawal. Bringing them home now is the only way to truly support them and keep them from harm. At his press conference announcing his new position, he acknowledged that pressure from his constituents was a major factor in his change. We invite all concerned residents to attend "Bring the Troops Home, NOW" vigils every Wednesday at the National Guard Armory in Teaneck at 4:30 p.m. Paula Rogovin Teaneck, Feb. 23 The writer is a member of Military Families Speak Out and Teaneck Peace and Justice Organization. |
| LETTERS TO THE EDITOR The Record Your views Friday, October 13, 2006 Regarding "Kean camp outraged by guerrilla video" (Page A-3, Oct. 10). The real story behind this article is why state Sen. Tom Kean Jr., after promising to answer in writing the questions of the Military Families Speak Out group, declined to make good on his promise. Kean's actions raise two questions: How good is his word, and does he have something to hide? Why would the Kean campaign make such a big deal out of questions from a mother who is worried about her son in the military? None of this "guerrilla video" would have occurred if Kean had simply fulfilled his promise and answered the questions. Nat Arkin |
| RECORD OPINION There are times that I find it hard to read the newspaper. But no time was harder than reading the story of Joseph Briseno Jr., a soldier injured in Iraq by a gunshot to the back of the head ("Parents tending to one of war's most badly hurt," Page A-9, June 25). The young man suffered a devastating spinal cord injury. He cannot see, walk or talk, but he can cry. And he is fully aware of what has happened to him. The accompanying picture shows his mother at his bedside at a VA hospital. There are times that I find it hard to read the newspaper. But no time was harder than reading the story of Joseph Briseno Jr., a soldier injured in Iraq by a gunshot to the back of the head ("Parents tending to one of war's most badly hurt," Page A-9, June 25). What part of this story do I want to comment on? Should it be the part where his parents have gone broke caring for their son? How could this be? Doesn't this country take care of its wounded warriors? As we all know the answer to that is no. Support the troops. What a joke. I have one question. The article claims that Briseno may be the most injured soldier to survive. I was at the National Naval Medical Center when my son, Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Fenton, died last year. There were two other Marines in the same ward who had the same devastating head injury that Matt had. They were aware of nothing. They had no chance of recovery. They were running out of options at the center, and they were going to be sent to a smaller Veterans Administration hospital. Their families were not letting them go. I believe that they and others like them are now somewhere out of sight and out of mind. John Fenton Little Ferry, June 25 |
| PRAYER ANSWERED By John Fenton, Little Ferry GOD ANSWERS PRAYERS THE NUNS TAUGHT YEARS AWAY I RETURN SAVE MY SON, SAVE MY SON GOD DOES NOT REGARD MY REQUEST ONE WEEK IN HELL NO INFERNO, STILL FAMILIES BURN DEATH HOVERS PRAY ANEW TAKE MY SON, TAKE MY SON CAN YOU IMAGINE? PLEASE LORD, TAKE HIM NOW THANK YOU GOD |
RUMMY COMES CALLING by John Fenton DURING THE STUPOR SOMEONE ASKED “WOULD YOU WANT TO MEET…… DRIFTS AWAY IN THE HAZE SWARM OF UNIFORMS AND SUITS APPROACHING---- RUMSFELD I THINK “HOW SMALL A MAN, HE HAS TIME TO TAN?” HE GLANCES AT MATT “OH MY” NO CLOSER THEN AT ME “YOU MUST BE HAVING A DIFFICULT TIME” F UCK YOU, STRANGLE, KILL TREMBLING WITH RAGE “YOU MUST END THIS MADNESS” “WE ARE TRYING” THEN HE IS GONE HORSE AND PONY IN TOW NEVER ASKED MATTHEW’S NAME HE CARED DAYS LATER AS I SAT BEDSIDE A CRAG OF A MAN CAME IN BEHIND ME HUGGED HIM AS I RECOGNIZED MURTHA ASKED HOW WE’RE HOLDING UP SAID WE WERE DOING RIGHT RIGHT FOR MATT I NEVER TOLD HIM HE KNEW HE CARED AN AMERICAN HERO ATTACKED BECAUSE HE’S IN OPPOSITION HAD SEEN ENOUGH MATTHEWS WE HUGGED WHEN HE LEFT SUPPORT THE TROOPS MUST EMBRACE A WARRIOR NO LONGER ABLE TO BATTLE BRING ‘ EM HOME |
| Hear John Fenton's tribute to his son, Sgt. Matthew Fenton click here |
| Record N.J. activists want to bar Bush from war on Iran Wednesday, May 14, 2008 BY PETER J. SAMPSON STAFF WRITER NEWARK — A group of New Jersey peace activists sued President Bush on Tuesday, claiming he violated the Constitution by going to war with Iraq without congressional authority and seeking to prevent a similar move against Iran. The 20-page complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Newark, was drafted by The Rutgers/Newark Constitutional Litigation Clinic on behalf of New Jersey Peace Action, an anti-war organization based in Montclair, and Paula Rogovin of Teaneck and Anna Berlinrut of Maplewood, leaders of their respective county chapters of Military Families Speak Out. "This suit does not ask the judiciary to intervene in the current hostilities in Iraq," Frank Askin, the clinic's founding director and counsel for the plaintiffs, explained at a news conference in Newark. "It looks only to the future," Askin said. "It cites repeated threats from the Bush administration to attack Iran and seeks only a declaratory judgment that the president may not launch a preemptive strike against a sovereign nation without explicit congressional authorization." Charles Miller, a spokesman for the Justice Department in Washington, D.C., said it had no immediate comment on the suit. Hoping to avoid the fate of similar legal challenges, the suit relies heavily on the annals of the 1787 Constitutional Convention, at which the nation's founders deliberately denied the president the power to wage war except in response to a sudden attack in which Congress did not have the time to act. "They were not permitted to delegate that power to the president and thus be able to later disclaim responsibility for a decision gone bad," Askin said. "Since Sept. 11, we've seen more and more powers amassed by the executive branch, and the invasion of Iraq was an indicator of how much in crisis our constitutional system of checks and balances is in today," said Madelyn Hoffman, New Jersey Peace Action's executive director. Rogovin, whose son is on his second tour in Iraq with the U.S. Marines, said Congress must not abdicate its "awesome responsibility" to declare war. "There are other possible wars coming up, with Iran," she said. "And we want to make sure Congress doesn't make the terrible mistake of giving away their responsibility ... to get the facts so that we don't end up in a war based on lies." "All we want is a judgment from the court that Congress can't do what they did. They cannot give away the power to declare war," Rogovin said. Berlinrut said her son would graduate from NJIT on Saturday after eight years and then will be returning to Iraq for a third tour with the Marine Forces Reserve. "If we're lucky, he'll come back from his third deployment to Iraq whole," she said, her voice cracking with emotion. "But he will miss the birth of his first child in November." Citing the many lives lost and damaged by "scars that will never heal," Berlinrut said, "The general public doesn't know the cost of Bush's war on our troops. Only the veterans and their families understand." "This was a needless war. It did not make the U.S. safer from any enemy. It did not protect us from terrorism," she said. "President Bush violated the Constitution of the United States by taking away Congress' sole right to declare war. We must make sure that never happens again." E-mail: sampson@northjersey.com NEWARK — A group of New Jersey peace activists sued President Bush on Tuesday, claiming he violated the Constitution by going to war with Iraq without congressional authority and seeking to prevent a similar move against Iran. The 20-page complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Newark, was drafted by The Rutgers/Newark Constitutional Litigation Clinic on behalf of New Jersey Peace Action, an anti-war organization based in Montclair, and Paula Rogovin of Teaneck and Anna Berlinrut of Maplewood, leaders of their respective county chapters of Military Families Speak Out. "This suit does not ask the judiciary to intervene in the current hostilities in Iraq," Frank Askin, the clinic's founding director and counsel for the plaintiffs, explained at a news conference in Newark. "It looks only to the future," Askin said. "It cites repeated threats from the Bush administration to attack Iran and seeks only a declaratory judgment that the president may not launch a preemptive strike against a sovereign nation without explicit congressional authorization." Charles Miller, a spokesman for the Justice Department in Washington, D.C., said it had no immediate comment on the suit. Hoping to avoid the fate of similar legal challenges, the suit relies heavily on the annals of the 1787 Constitutional Convention, at which the nation's founders deliberately denied the president the power to wage war except in response to a sudden attack in which Congress did not have the time to act. "They were not permitted to delegate that power to the president and thus be able to later disclaim responsibility for a decision gone bad," Askin said. "Since Sept. 11, we've seen more and more powers amassed by the executive branch, and the invasion of Iraq was an indicator of how much in crisis our constitutional system of checks and balances is in today," said Madelyn Hoffman, New Jersey Peace Action's executive director. Rogovin, whose son is on his second tour in Iraq with the U.S. Marines, said Congress must not abdicate its "awesome responsibility" to declare war. "There are other possible wars coming up, with Iran," she said. "And we want to make sure Congress doesn't make the terrible mistake of giving away their responsibility ... to get the facts so that we don't end up in a war based on lies." "All we want is a judgment from the court that Congress can't do what they did. They cannot give away the power to declare war," Rogovin said. Berlinrut said her son would graduate from NJIT on Saturday after eight years and then will be returning to Iraq for a third tour with the Marine Forces Reserve. "If we're lucky, he'll come back from his third deployment to Iraq whole," she said, her voice cracking with emotion. "But he will miss the birth of his first child in November." Citing the many lives lost and damaged by "scars that will never heal," Berlinrut said, "The general public doesn't know the cost of Bush's war on our troops. Only the veterans and their families understand." "This was a needless war. It did not make the U.S. safer from any enemy. It did not protect us from terrorism," she said. "President Bush violated the Constitution of the United States by taking away Congress' sole right to declare war. We must make sure that never happens again." |