POLITICO updater on stuff!

'THE HEALTH INSURERS HAVE ALREADY WON': That's the Business Week online headline (hat tip, POLITICO's PULSE): 'As the health reform fight shifts this month from a vacationing Washington to congressional districts and local airwaves around the country, much more of the battle than most people realize is already over. The likely victors are insurance giants such as UnitedHealth Group, Aetna, and WellPoint. The carriers have succeeded in redefining the terms of the reform debate to such a degree that no matter what specifics emerge in the voluminous bill Congress may send to President Obama this fall, the insurance industry will emerge more profitable. ... The industry has already accomplished its main goal of at least curbing, and maybe blocking altogether, any new publicly administered insurance program that could grab market share from the corporations that dominate the business.'

AND NOW VIOLENCE: Now that supporters and opponents are showing up, town hall events are getting violent. From the Tampa Tribune, it appears that many opponents were sparked by Fox's Glenn Beck and his 9-12 initiative: 'What was intended to be a town hall discussion on President Barack Obama's health care reform proposal dissolved into a shouting match with shoving and scuffles in Ybor City tonight.

'The event brought home to Tampa the recent phenomenon of angry opponents of Obama's proposal disrupting town hall meetings by Democratic members of Congress during the August recess. 'They're hiding from their constituents. She works for us and needs to listen,' said Karen Jaroch, a Tampa homemaker and organizer for the 9-12 Project, set up by TV commentator Glenn Beck, which had recruited its members to attend.'

FLUSH WITH CASH: Cash for clunkers is flush with cash again. From Manu Raju of POLITICO: 'On the eve of its summer recess, the Senate on Thursday cleared a $2-billion extension to keep the federally subsidized car trade-in program alive, sparing the White House a PR-dilemma after the first $1 billion ran dry in a matter of days.

'After rejecting a series of amendments that would have effectively paralyzed the program, the Senate approved the House-passed bill on a 60-37 vote, taking $2 billion from a renewable energy program to keep the dollars flowing to consumers and car dealerships. Seven Republicans voted for the bill, and four Democrats opposed the measure, which President Barack Obama plans to sign immediately so the clunkers program can keep humming along.'

JUSTICE SONIA SOTOMAYOR: Chief Justice John Roberts will swear her in tomorrow. The Washington Post's Amy Goldstein and Paul Kane capture the moment: 'The Senate, in a vote laden with history and partisanship, confirmed Sonia Sotomayor on Thursday as the 111th justice and the first Hispanic to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. The confirmation of President Obama's first high court nominee was a milestone for his presidency. But the Senate's nearly 20 hours of debate over Sotomayor this week -- and the fact that only nine Republicans voted for her -- made clear the divisive contours her nomination had assumed since Obama chose her this spring.'

SCOOP: POLITICO's Manu Raju got ahold of a letter from Sen. Kent Conrad to Republican Rep. Darrell Issa regarding Issa's investigation of Countrywide loans: 'Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) lashed out at Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) after the Republican congressman pushed the powerful Democratic senator to divulge details about low-interest loans he received from Countrywide Financial.

In letters provided to POLITICO, Conrad has accused Issa of attempting to impugn his name in a GOP inquiry into the Countrywide mortgage scandal. Conrad said that the Senate Ethics Committee is the 'appropriate forum to resolve this matter,' not Issa's Republican staff on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. 'It is unfortunate that you chose to damage my good name in your report without giving me the opportunity to provide my side of the story,' Conrad said in the sharply worded Aug. 3 letter. 'But that damage has been done. I now have the opportunity to present my case before the Senate Ethics Committee, a fundamental right you denied me.'

'Shame on you for abusing your power,' Conrad said.

MORE HILL JETS: The Wall Street Journal's Brody Mullins follows Roll Call on the congressional jets story and find's there's even more fancy jets being ordered: 'Congress plans to spend $550 million to buy eight jets, a substantial upgrade to the fleet used by federal officials at a time when lawmakers have criticized the use of corporate jets by companies receiving taxpayer funds.

'The purchases will help accommodate growing travel demand by congressional officials. The planes augment a fleet of about two dozen passenger jets maintained by the Air Force for lawmakers, administration officials and military chiefs to fly on government trips in the U.S. and abroad. ... Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary, said the Department of Defense didn't request the additional planes and doesn't need them. 'We ask for what we need and only what we need,' he told reporters Wednesday. 'We've always frowned upon earmarks and additives that are above and beyond what we ask for.'

CRITICIZING WH ON FOREIGN SOIL: Politics aren't stopping at the water's edge for Rep. Eric Cantor, as The Hill's Bridget Johnson reports: 'Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) took a swipe at President Barack Obama's Mideast policy in Jerusalem on Thursday, telling reporters he was worried about the administration's direction in its attempts to forge a settlement in the region.

'We're here to try and make things better; we are here because we are concerned,' Cantor said. 'We are concerned about what the White House has been signaling as of late in their desire to push through in terms of a Middle East peace plan.' Cantor's comments leave the high-ranking Republican open to Democratic criticism for criticizing the president while on foreign soil.'

CLIMATE CHANGE BALK: John Broder of the New York Times sees a handful of moderate senators ready to block a climate change bill if it ever came to the Senate floor: 'Ten moderate Senate Democrats from states dependent on coal and manufacturing sent a letter to President Obama on Thursday saying they would not support any climate change bill that did not protect American industries from competition from countries that did not impose similar restraints on climate-altering gases.

'The letter warned that strong actions to limit emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases would add to the cost of goods like steel, cement, paper and aluminum. Unless other countries adopt similar emission limits, the senators warned, jobs will migrate overseas and foreign manufacturers will have a decided cost advantage.

'As Congress considers energy and climate legislation,' the senators wrote, 'it is important that such a bill include provisions to maintain a level playing field for American manufacturing.'

LET'S TALK OVER RECESS: They won't be in the Hart Senate building, but they will keep talking, as David Drucker reports for Roll Call: 'The six bipartisan health care negotiators on the Senate Finance Committee adjourned their marathon talks Thursday evening with no last-minute breakthrough before the August recess.

'But the group, led by Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), reported additional progress toward a consensus health care reform bill, and announced that a tentative schedule has been devised for teleconference meetings during the month ahead. Negotiations might also continue in person over the break, Baucus said.

'This was a very good meeting,' he said. 'We are all working very hard, our group of six, on lots of issues -- I mean very hard, and really want to do this right.'