If AP did a correction, it didn't appear in my local newspaper's Wednesday edition. And when I read it, I screamed in frustration. What the heck is Obama thinking?

Wait, I know. He knows he has all of us by the balls (knowing we'll vote for him over McCain) so he can damned well do whatever he wants to curry the votes of those very people who gave us Bush/Cheney!

Makes me furious. This, after FISA!

I totally agree with the head of the group that Benen used to work for. That awful program initiated by this administration should be eliminated totally. It's time for new beginnings, but we can't have that with a candidate who is (also, like McCain) pandering to the religious right.

Arrrggghhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Benen makes a big deal about the AP feed but it's a distinction without a difference. There is no effective way to police these safeguards. Further, the idea that religious organizations can (or have the will) to put up walls around federally funded programs away from religious ones is nonsense. And doesn't federal funding for "allowable" programs just allow religious organizations to shift its other funding to its objectionable programs? There are lots of purely secular charitable organizations that can make good use of this money without any of the religious complications.

Stop making excuses for Obama. This is not just a bad policy, it's an unnecessary policy. It's pandering, pure and simple.

The taxpayers are footing the bill for this giant White House slush fund! No accountability is required, and what strings are attached, we don't have a clue.

It's not legal to give taxpayers' money to churches for them to do whatever they choose. Obama has demonstrated that he is just as capable as the next guy when it comes to pandering to groups. What next? Continuing the embarge against Cuba because a small percentage of Cuban-American voters want to keep the opportunity for wealth from the island to themselves?

I like the way his "turn the page" campaign reeks of politcs-as-usual. He's a joke and if he becomes President, he will be a one-term loser.

All "faith-based"

But when you go sign up for exercise at the Y they don't hand you a religious pamphlet (even though CHRISTIAN is the C in YMCA)

When you volunteer to help build a home for a low in come family devastated by a hurricane, they don't make you swear an oath to Jesus (or even ask you)

And when you go get food or temporary shelter or ANY number of services that the United Way provides, there are no nuns in habits walking around and you aren't even aware that United Way is a Catholic organization.

Relax you guys. Geez.

In the coming years as our economy completely bottoms out, there will be a lot of people who need food, medial care, clothes, shelter, help. Maybe it will even be YOU.

And as to these program WORKING - nothing ambiguous about that. My local YMCA teaches kids to swim for free. In Florida, my state, drowning is one of the top reasons for children dying. The kids in my neighborhood don't have pools in their backyards or parent to enroll them in "swim lessons" that cost money. I;m glad the Y is there to do it (among other things). And all I do is pay a monthly gym membership (no other place to workout in my community EXCEPT the YMCA. No Bally's. No LA Fitness. No 24 Hour Fitness. No CITY CLUB.)

I suspect that some religious institutions have advocated discrimination based on factors other than religious affiliation, such as sexual orientation. None of the posters seem to have noted that.

Thanks for the clarification. I was also worried when I saw the news yesterday.

You Obama supporters are an interesting breed, aren't you? When Bush or Hillary says or does something like this, it's bloody murder, fascism, blah, blah; but when Obama does or says the same or worse, it's kosher! No wonder the guy's taking you and the netroots for granted, throwing you under

the bus to pander to the Christian right and Republicans.

He knows you'll go that extra mile to rationalize, even adding non-existing facts, Obama's blunders, his 180-degree turns, not to mention his abandoning Democratic core values for clearly Republican values and Bush policies (do FISA, faith-based initiative, gun ban, healthcare, speech on patriotism ring a bell?).

I was sad when the DNC, aided and abetted by the same MSM you are now disbelieving and maligning, gave the nomination to Obama instead of Hillary. However, with Obama showing his true colors each passing day, I am happy the nomination was stolen from her. At least, you won't have her to smear with your lies and vile langauges anymore!

Good luck with your choice in November. Hard choice to make between two Republicans and Bush-lites, wouldn't you say?

I'm a fan of charity, I think it should be encouraged. And unfortunately, more and more people seem to be in need of it these days, between job loss, home loss, gas prices and the consequent steep rise in the cost of living. Sharing with the less fortunate is a basic tenet, and one of the best things about Christianity, Judaism and Islam and no doubt several other faiths, as well. I don't want to list them all for fear of leaving someone out. But charity is needed in every direction you look--food and shelter are still valuable to the recipients whatever the source. We've got multitudes of people in trouble and in need of help, and thanks to Bush, our resources for giving it to them are far more limited. So I think Obama's right not to reject this resource--it's needed. We definitely need secular organizations as well and we need federal social safety nets--which Bush gleefully shredded with "Compassionate Conservatism." It's going to take a long time to undo the harm, if its even possible. To deny the good religious charities can do and have been doing long before this president took office is dumb.

I'm also a big fan of the separation of church and state, and the idea that no faith should be either promoted or denigrated in favor of any other. No state religion, no religious litmus test before you let someone sleep in the church basement instead of out in the rain, and no proselytization when you pass out the food bank groceries. I'm glad to know Obama's REAL thoughts on this issue, rather than those the AP tried to make us think were his.