Changes

"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 Bonicelli could be another [[Michael Brown]]-like appointment. Brown, called 'Brownie' by President [George W.] [[George W. Bush |Bush]] before the administration rather unceremoniously dumped him, was the head of [[FEMA]] during the run-up to, and the aftermath of, [[Hurricane Katrina]]."

In 2002, the [[Bush administration ]] sent a "delegation heavily stocked with activists from [[conservative]] Christian organizations" to the U.N.[[United Nations]]'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]

"For the [[religious right]], the anti-discrimination treaty is like the [[Equal Rights Amendment]] gone global, says [said] Paul Bonicelli, a Bush delegate to last month's U.N. summit on children and dean of

"'The White House seeking ratification of CEDAW would be absolutely humongous,' he [said]. 'It was unthinkable to [[social conservatives conservative]]s that after the [[Clinton administration|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 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.'"

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].

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 [[war on drugs|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 the [[United Nations]].