The cheers accompanying Thursday's $2 billion extension of the "cash for clunkers" program are not shared by Point Richmond's Vehicle Donation to Any Charity. It's seen a 20 percent drop in donations since Cash for Clunkers began last month. That's a big dent in the $3 million the company usually raises from reselling donated old cars and distributes annually among 4,500 charities nationwide. Beneficiaries include Goodwill Industries, Meals on Wheels, Alzheimer's Foundation for America and San Rafael High School Boosters. Oh, and Car Talk, which turns over its share to National Public Radio.

"The Clunkers program is really hurting our nonprofits. Their other sources of income are curtailed, while the need for their services has never been greater," said v-Dac's president, Jamie Sutton.

CEO Mark Jones says he's hearing similar stories from other organizations, including Habitat for Humanity, which has a vehicle donation program. Jones said he would feel better if Congress put organizations like his on a more level playing field with cash for clunkers. Meaning a restoration of the full "fair market value" tax deduction for donors, which was stripped in 2004. Jones is hoping Congress will soon act on HR571, sponsored by Rep. William Delahunt, D-Mass., which would restore the tax break.

V-Dac's Web site: www.v-dac.com.

In other stimulus news: The city of Richmond and the Cypress Mandela Training Center Inc. just received $500,000 each from the Environmental Protection Agency to fund environmental cleanup and green-tech-related job training programs. California's Department of Toxic Substances Control received $1.8 million in EPA loans and grants for toxic cleanups in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Emeryville got $1 million for "shovel ready" cleanups at abandoned gas stations in the city.

More information on EPA grants at links.sfgate.com/ZHUL.

August offensive - 2: Got a blast e-mail Thursday from Organizing for America, a Democratic National Committee operation, which uses www.barackobama.com as one of its Web addresses.

It accuses "insurance companies," along with "special interests, and partisan attack organizations" of "spreading smears about the president's plan for reform, trying to incite constituents into lashing out at their representatives and disrupting their events."

Curious, I phoned the DNC in Washington and asked which insurance companies were engaging in such practices. A DNC spokesman cited the lobbying group, America's Health Insurance Plans, which I mentioned in my Thursday column. As proof, he referred me to two items from Washington Post blogger Greg Sargent. The first refers to AHIP encouraging its members to turn out at town hall meetings to "confront" Democratic lawmakers. But AHIP didn't employ that word. A Politico writer did, in a post linked to by Sargent.

In the second post, Sargent informs us that AHIP is distributing "new talking points" to its members. As presented by Sargent, they focus on the organization's long-stated opposition to the "government option" plan. Nothing smearing, inciting or disruptive hinted at. In fact, Sargent, no friend of the insurance industry judging by his posts, notes that AHIP "insists it doesn't want visitors to town halls to be disruptive." "There's nothing wrong with AHIP encouraging participation and distributing talking points," he adds.

In which case, my question to the DNC (cc: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the White House): Who's smearing whom?

Wake up and smell the coffee? I have news for both sides of the government option argument. It's more than likely off the table. It never was an Obama do-or-die proposal, I'm told.

Twittering at twitter.com/andrewsross. Tips, feedback: E-mail bottomline@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page C - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle