Changes

In October 2005, '''Paul J. Bonicelli''' was appointed deputy director of , Ph.D., became a Deputy Assistant Administrator at the [[United States Agency for International Development]] (USAID)in October 2005.  USAID Administrator [[Andrew Natsios]] [http://www.usaid.gov/press/releases/2005/pr051019.html announced] October 19, 2005, where he oversees that Bonicelli had "joined the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance (DCHA)" and "will primarily oversee the agencyAgency's programs that promote democracy and good governance internationallyprograms. "  ----==Lack of Experience and "Fitness"=="Given his apparent lack of experience in these areas," Bill Berkowitz [http://www.mediatransparency.com/story.php?storyID=99 wrote] December 19, 2005, "it appears that Bonicellicould be another [[Michael Brown]]-like appointment. Brown, called 's prior job Brownie' by President Bush before the administration rather unceremoniously dumped him, was dean the head of [[FEMA]] during the run-up to, and the aftermath of, [[Hurricane Katrina]]." Bonicelli has served as Dean of Academic Affairs and Associate Professor of academic affairs Government at [[Patrick Henry College]](PHC) in Purcellville, Virginia, a Christian since it [http://www.sbcbaptistpress.org/bpnews.asp?ID=14697 opened in 2000]. Patrick Henry is an "ultra-fundamentalist institutions institution [which ] requires its students and faculty to sign a [10-part "] 'statement of faith' declaring that they believe 'Jesus Christ, born of a virgin, is God come in the flesh', 'Jesus Christ literally rose bodily from the dead,' and 'all who die outside of Christ shall be confined in conscious torment for eternity'," former [[State Department]] and USAID official William Fisher [http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=31139 wrote] November 23, 2005. "Critics question how Muslims will react to the view that 'all who die outside of Christ shall be confined in conscious torment for eternity'," declaringFisher wrote. As David Corn [http://www.davidcorn.com/archives/2005/12/bushs_hellish_c.php put it] in his December 2, 2005, blog: :"There should be no religious test for serving in the US government. But should the deputy director at the US. Agency for International Development (USAID) in charge of promoting democracy and good governance abroad be a fundamentalist who ardently believes that the citizens of the world who do not accept Christ will 'be confined in conscious torment for eternity'? Yes, among other thingsit's another tricky religious-and-politics issue. But if the point of the US dispensing aid and advice around the globe is to improve the lot of those who are less fortunate (economically and politically) and to win the US brownie points for doing so, is it a smart move to have a significant portion of its efforts led by a man who thinks that nonthere is only one true religion and that many--if not most--Christians of the folks his agency is supposed to help are heading straight to hell?" And Jake Herrera, in his December 15, 2005, ''The Daily Cardinal'', [http://www.dailycardinal.com/article.php?storyid=1027684 expressed it] this way: :"Bonicelli is more likely going to be spreading the gospel. ... Sounds like just the man who should be given the task of convincing the vast majority of the world’s 1.2 billion Muslims that they are mistaken in thinking that the U.S. is waging a war against Islam. I can just imagine his listening tour of the Middle East.  :"'The people of [[Iraq]] are free and will continue to grow democratically...but after that, unfortunately, it is the view of the United States that the people of Iraq will endure conscious torment in eternity.'" ==U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child==In 2002, the Bush administration sent a "delegation heavily stocked with activists from [[conservative]] Christian organizations" to the U.N.'s Special Session on Children. Members of the delegation included Paul Bonicelli, identified as executive director of the [[National Center for Home Education]], a division of the [[Home School Legal Defense Association]]; [[Bill Saunders]], a director of the [[Family Research Council]]; [[J. Robert Flores]], then vice president of the anti-pornography [[National Law Center for Children and Families]]; former Vatican advisor [[John Klink]]; and [[Janice Crouse]] of the ultra-conservative [[Concerned Women for America]]. The delegation, sent "to promote biblical values in U.S. foreign policy ... sparked an outcry of protest from [[women's rights]] advocates" by arguing "that the phrase '[[reproductive health]] services' could be read to affirm the right to [[abortion]] and to support the distribution of condoms to teenagers." [http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1258055/posts][http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=31139] ==U.N. Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women=="For the [[religious right]], the anti-discrimination treaty is like the [[Equal Rights Amendment]] gone global, says Paul Bonicelli, a Bush delegate to last month's U.N. summit on children and dean ofacademic affairs at Patrick Henry College, a conservative Virginia school that teaches [[creationism]]," Michelle Goldberg [http://archives.lists.indymedia.org/imc-dc/2002-June/002770.html reported] June 22, 2002. "'The White House seeking ratification of CEDAW would be absolutely humongous,' he [said]. 'It was unthinkable to social conservatives that after the Clintons were out of office that something like CEDAW would be put forward as a ratifiable document. For social conservatives to find out that this was something that could be condemned ratified was shocking and disappointing. It galvanized every bit of opposition to express in no uncertain terms this is not something social conservatives can accept.'" ==Bush Administration Connections==Bonicelli and Patrick Henry College "have had close ties to the [[Bush Administration]] and to private [[right-wing]] religious groups who form such an important part of President Bush's base. PHC students have been chosen to serve as interns for [[Karl Rove]] and for the White House Office of Public Liaison, and students and faculty are frequently invited to White House and inaugural events," Fisher [http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=31139 wrote].  ==Profiles==According to the November 19, 2005, USAID [http://www.usaid.gov/press/releases/2005/pr051019.html press release] announcing his appointment, "[p]rior to his work at Patrick Henry College, Bonicelli was a [http://commdocs.house.gov/committees/intlrel/hfa47728.000/hfa47728_0.HTM professional staff member] for the [[International Relations Committee]] of the U.S. House of Representatives, and with a background consisting of both practical experience and scholarship regarding Latin American politics and U.S. foreign policy, he served on the staff of the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere. Development, democratization and the drug war were the main issues he worked on during his tenure at the Congress. In 2001 and 2002, he was tasked by the White House to serve as an official delegate to hellthe [[United Nations]].  "Previously, Bonicelli was an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Grove City College in Pennsylvania. Prior to receiving his doctorate at the University of Tennessee, he worked in electoral politics at the national level, and served as a researcher and analyst in Washington, DC." ==SourceWatch Resources==*[[Bush administration cronyism and incompetence]]*[[The Bush Theocracy]]

*Sharon Lerner, [http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0219,lerner,34590,1.html "Saviors of the Children. Far-Right Bush Delegates Ally With Religious Conservatives at UN Conference,"] ''Village Voice'', May 8-14, 2002. *[http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/702592/posts "Bush Team Trimming Clinton-like Decrees in U.N.,"] Agape Press (Free Republic), June 18, 2002.*Michelle Goldberg [http://archives.lists.indymedia.org/imc-dc/2002-June/002770.html "Yes to the Bible, no to the treaty. Worldwide, 169 countries have signed a treaty to ban forced marriage and mandate equal access to education for women. Now Christian-right allies of President Bush call it a threat to Mother's Day,"] Indymedia (''Faultline''), June 22, 2002. *[http://www.hslda.org/docs/hshb/40/hshb4011.asp "The U.S. role in the UN convention"]; [http://nche.hslda.org/docs/hshb/40/hshb4012.asp "An anti-family agenda?"]; [https://secure.hslda.org/docs/hshb/40/hshb4014.asp "What does the UN document on the rights of the child contain?"]; and [http://www.hslda.org/docs/hshb/40/hshb4015.asp "Why is this so important?"], Home School Legal Defense Association, September 23, 24, 26, and 27, 2002. Radio links for interviews with Bonicelli on the "U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child."*Andrew Buncombe, [http://www.ariannaonline.com/forums/printthread.php?t=2897 "The Bible college that leads to the White House,"] ''Independent'' (UK) (AriannaOnline Forums), April 21, 2004.*Alex Johnson, [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6276308 "Staying on the right side of a political movement. Conservative Christians — and their ideas — threaded throughout Bush administration,"] MSNBC, October 27, 2004.*Rosalind S. Helderman, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/15/AR2005101500052.html "Local College Dean Named To U.S. Post. Patrick Henry's Bonicelli To Help Spread Democracy,"] ''Washington Post'', October 16, 2005.*[http://www.usaid.gov/press/releases/2005/pr051019.html Press Release: "USAID Announces New Deputy Assistant Administrator Paul J. Bonicelli, Ph.D.]," ] USAID press release, October 19, 2005.*[http://www.thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/TheExecutive/102705_appt.html "Appointments,"] ''The Hill'', October 27, 2005.*[https://ssl.tnr.com/p/docsub.mhtml?i=20051114&s=notebook111405twp "Saving Muslims from Damnation,"] ''The New Republic'', November 8, 2005. Subscription required.*Jake Herrara, [http://www.dailycardinal.com/article.php?storyid=1027684 "U.S. public diplomacy failing in Middle East,"] ''The Daily Cardinal'', November 15, 2005.*William Fisher, [http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=31139 "Democrats, NGOs Assail 'Crony' Appointees,"] Inter Press News Service Agency, November 23, 2005.*[http://rightwingnuthouse.com/archives/2005/11/28/another-perplexing-bush-appointment "Another Perplexing Bush Appointment,"] ''Rightwing Nuthouse'', November 28, 2005.*William Fisher, "[http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=5&article_ID=20366# By God, another awful Bush appointment]," ''Daily Star'' (Lebanon), November 29, 2005; ''Tom Paine'' December 1, 2005, reprint: [http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20051201/bushs_newest_crusader.php "Bush's Newest Crusader."]*David Corn, [http://www.davidcorn.com/archives/2005/12/bushs_hellish_c.php "Bush's Hellish Choice at USAID/Obvious and Not-so-Obvious Counter-Facts to Bush's Speech,"] ''DavidCorn.com'', December 2, 2005.*David R. Mark, [http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/12/05/032527.php "Oh My God! Bush Appoints Religious Zealot To Key USAID Post,"] ''BlogCritics.org'', December 5, 2005.*Bill Berkowitz, [http://www.mediatransparency.com/story.php?storyID=99 original research by Bill Berkowitz"Bush Administration mining fundamentalist recruits. The former Dean of Academic Affairs at the fundamentalist Christian Patrick Henry College is appointed to oversee USAID's democracy and governance programs,"], for ''MediaTransparency.org'', December 19, 2005.