I'm not sure what the fuss is about. They legitimately contribute to charitable organizations enough to allow their itemized and standard deductions to be equal to that of their AGI, which eliminates any need to pay taxes. Just a loophole that they have taken advantage of. I do see the issue that if everyone else did this then we would not be able to fund an effective military, but I don't really care how this would affect other "social" programs. With the exception of military, I would rather dictate where my money goes, than the feds.
That said, those people are still idiots.