The controversy over Obama’s former pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright, has not stopped Obama from pandering to the Christian vote—at least in Kentucky. From the story: In Kentucky, he is making a direct appeal to Evangelicals with flyers that mention his conversion experience and they highlight a big old cross. Remember Mike Huckabee’s supposed subliminal cross in his Christmas campaign ad? Well, the Obama campaign ditches the subliminal and goes for the in your face cross CBN News . It will be interesting to see if the MSM is as critical of Obama as it was of Huckabee Fox News .

From the story: His endorsement came after victories by Mrs. Clinton in West Virginia, Pennsylvania and other states with large working class populations indicated potential weaknesses along racial and class divides — weaknesses that Mrs. Clinton has tried to exploit to convince superdelegates, contributors and voters in the remaining contests that she has a better chance to beat Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, in the fall. Mr. Edwards could potentially help Mr. Obama with that group. A Southerner, he had directed his candidacy at the same white and working class voters Mr. Obama is trying to woo ( New York Times ). Meanwhile, Andrew Romano at Newsweek wonders if the Edwards endorsement really matters .

A television news segment produced by Al-Jazeera shows Palestinians in Gaza engaging in phone banking activities for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. The segment explains how young Palestinians have banded together to call American voters at random asking them to vote for Obama YouTube .

Some prominent Christian leaders said this week that they will not sign the “An Evangelical Manifesto,” listing reasons such as vague wording and theological differences. The Christian Post

How did Noah's Ark manage to stay afloat? Estimates of the number of species on earth are surging into apparently hull-busting millions as biologists find new life almost everywhere they look, from African swamps to Antarctica. The ever-widening menagerie is a paradox when an expanding human population, pollution and climate change threaten what United Nations' studies say is the worst spate of extinctions since the dinosaurs were wiped out 65 million years ago. Rueters News

Outliving your offspring is an unbearable prospect, but the death of a child takes on an especially horrific dimension for many of the parents of child victims of the Sichuan earthquake, an edge of intolerable cruelty. Under the one-child policy, imposed in 1979 as a way of reining in population growth already running at dangerously high levels in the world's most populous nation, most families are limited to one child. The worst natural disaster to hit China in 30 years has brought the spotlight to bear on one of the country's most controversial policies of social engineering, and highlighted how this policy puts unbearable pressure on many families in contemporary China. The Independent News

The Rev. Jeffry Dillon switched from the religious to the secular on a recent Sunday morning to ask his parishioners a pointed question: "Do subprime mortgages scare you?"
Then he announced that the Roman Catholic parish, not far from JFK International Airport in Queens, was offering a workshop after Mass to help people in danger of losing their homes. Embracing the religious tradition of helping the poor, pastors around the nation are doubling as financial shepherds for their mortgage-distressed flocks. "What happens to the lives of people daily is important," said Jean Beil, a spokeswoman for Catholic Charities USA. "God calls us to care for the poor." The Christian Post

A GOP pollster says the victory in Mississippi yesterday by Democrat Travis Childers in a special congressional election to replace Republican Roger Wicker, is likely a foreshadowing of things to come in November. In Tuesday's runoff election, Childers defeated Republican candidate Greg Davis, the mayor of Southaven, by a 54%-46% margin, winning 58 percent of the vote in Lee County, the district's largest. Democrats captured the seat despite the fact Mississippi political heavyweights like former Senator Trent Lott, Senator Thad Cochran, Senator Roger Wicker, and Governor Haley Barbour campaigned hard for Davis. In recent days, even Vice President Dick Cheney held a rally for Davis. The Christian Post

In recent years, legislators have looked at ways to stop film and TV studios from moving their production to other states. Now opponents of a new bill say a legislator could run an even bigger industry out of California. Malcolm Maclachlan in Capitol Weekly

For the first time since 1993, the percentage of people who say their finances are very or fairly secure falls below 60%, the survey shows. Abigail Goldman in the Los Angeles Times

Stunned House Republicans vowed campaign changes Wednesday and debated the wisdom of attacking Democratic presidential front-runner Barack Obama in congressional races after their third straight election defeat in once-friendly territory. David Espo AP

Seven years after former Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn killed a controversial plan to recycle sewage water into drinking water, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has resurrected the idea as one way L.A. could provide much-needed water to the city's growing population. Kerry Cavanaugh in the Los Angeles Daily News

Federal agencies are accused of ignoring the dangers of bisphenol A, which some experts think may harm the development of children's brains. James Hohmann in the Los Angeles Times