Monday morning quarterback

The BBC reports that the Sudanese government has finally agreed to allow a small number of UN troops into Darfur. There are currently about 7,000 African Union soldiers in Darfur. Will UN troops be able to make a difference? Here's hoping Sudan's compliance to international pressure on Darfur will make more a difference to those in Darfur than the troop presence. Meanwhile, Oxfam has announced a campaign to raise almost $10 million for their work in the region.

The New York Times features an article on first quarter fundraising results of the Clinton and Obama campaigns, including an interactive where you can search your zip to see if any of your neighbors have supported a campaign, similar to the idea of FundRace.org during the last presidential race. Now, yes, the numbers of both donors and dollars are awe-inspiring, especially to those of us with a background in fundraising. These people know what they're doing. But I for one would really appreciate some discussion of issues instead of dollars for a change in the frenzy around 2008.

And, finally, it's spring so we're back to fighting over abortion in South Dakota. Last year at this time, the legislature in that state attempted to pass a sweeping abortion ban. The law was defeated by South Dakota voters in November, but just last week Planned Parenthood was in the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals fighting against a so-called "informed consent law" that would require doctors to present biased, medically-unsound state sponsored information to women seeking an abortion. Language surrounding the abortion debate has always been important, and now we're seeing two emerging themes: 1) the language of feminism being co-opted by the anti-choice crowd and 2) the argument that women need to be 'protected' from abortion--and, one can infer, from themselves.