ADMISSION: Congress doesn’t understand the health-care bill.

ASHEVILLE CITIZEN-TIMES: We won’t meet with you if you videotape.

SO I GUESS THE BEER THING DIDN’T END IT: Black cop in Gates arrest sends letter to Obama about being called an “Uncle Tom”.

UPDATE: Joe Hicks: If this was a “teachable moment,” what did we learn?

A TEA PARTY PROTEST on Long Island.

ARE WALL STREET ANALYSTS lying about earnings?

UPDATE: Reader Russ Barbour sends this from T.J. Rodgers. “Why are the Pharisees of Accounting in the U.S. trying so hard to destroy American business?”

ANOTHER UPDATE: Sean Ryan says this is a bad rap.

STEPHEN CARTER: When did profits become evil?

“For-profit” firms come under constant attack from activists and members of Congress.

Thus, a recent news release from the AFL-CIO began with this evidently alarming fact: “Profits at 10 of the country’s largest publicly traded health insurance companies rose 428 percent from 2000 to 2007.” Even had the figures been correct — they weren’t — we are seeing the same circus. Profit is the enemy. America could be made pure, if only profit could be purged.

This attitude was wrong in 2006. It is wrong now. High profits are excellent news. When corporate earnings reach record levels, we should be celebrating. The only way a firm can make money is to sell people what they want at a price they are willing to pay. If a firm makes lots of money, lots of people are getting what they want.

Some people don’t like that. I hope Carter makes money on his new book, which I’m taking to the beach with me.

IS CONSERVATIVE THE NEW GAY?

ANOTHER MIS-STEP ON THE RECOVERY PLAN: AP sources: Govt to suspend ‘cash for clunkers’.

Congressional officials say the government plans to suspend the popular “cash for clunkers” program amid concerns it could quickly use up the $1 billion in rebates for new car purchases.

The Transportation Department called congressional offices late Thursday to alert them to the decision to halt the program, which offered owners of old cars and trucks $3,500 or $4,500 toward a new, more fuel-efficient vehicle.

Hmm. So the program ran through the money faster than they thought. I wonder how their healthcare plan will work out? . . .

Remember, people respond to economic incentives.

A TEA PARTY PROTEST IN OKLAHOMA CITY. Reader Thomas Hoyt emails: “The Sooner Tea Party and OKC 9-12 Project teamed up to hold an anti-Obamacare rally today at 11 a.m. in front of the building where Sen. Tom Coburn’s OKC office is. I counted about 80 or so people midway through. Here are some photos I took, and I hope you’ll like one (or more) of them enough to post at Instapundit.” Okay. Here’s one. I think Coburn is reachable on this . . .

MICHAEL BARONE: GatesGate Political Fallout.

UPDATE: Can Obama lead without active assistance of MSM?

ASSOCIATED PRESS: Analysis: White House beers a way to change topic.

UPDATE: Poll: Obama mishandled comments on race. “The president’s approval ratings fell, especially among working-class whites, as the focus of the Gates story shifted from details about the incident to Obama’s remarks, the poll said. Among whites in general, more disapprove than approve of his comments by a two-to-one margin.”

ANOTHER UPDATE: If only it had worked out this way. Instead, from the video, the get-together looked rather strained.

PEW POLL: Obama’s Ratings Slide Across the Board: The Economy, Health Care Reform and Gates Grease the Skids.

THE HILL: Baucus: ‘No idea’ how he’ll vote on Sotomayor.

WHITE HOUSE MAKES C.E.O.s PAY FOR LUNCH. “Four of the most powerful business leaders in America arrived at the White House one day last month for lunch with President Barack Obama, sitting down in his private dining room just steps from the Oval Office. But even for powerful CEOs, there’s no such thing as a free lunch: White House staffers collected credit card numbers for each executive and carefully billed them for the cost of the meal with the president. The White House defended the unusual move as a way to avoid conflicts of interest. But the Bush administration didn’t charge presidential guests for meals, one former official said, and at least one etiquette expert found the whole thing unseemly – suggesting it was a serious breach of protocol”

I’d say it shows the kind of humility and concern for others that we’ve seen in other settings. A reader says that Jimmy Carter did the same thing. That fits, too . . . .

UPDATE: Reader Richard Humphries writes: “Glenn, apparenly the Obama White House has been listening to Vaughn Meader’s recording of ‘The First Family’ from 1963. There was a skit where JFK has a lunch for De Gaulle, Kruschev, and several other heads of state and at the end he presents them with the bill.” Heh. Before my time, though, which means it’s also before Obama’s.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Yeah, it’s on YouTube.

TAXPROF: Newt Gingrich’s Tax Reform Plan.

ROLL CALL: Baucus Says No Markup Next Week on Health Bill.

UNVEILING the new Nikons.

PJTV: I talk with Michelle Malkin about her new book, Culture of Corruption. Still #1 on Amazon.

ALL YOUR MEDIA ARE BELONG TO US: Movie/record industry rep says that you shouldn’t expect to be able to play your media for as long as you own it.

TOM BLUMER: The A.P. Declares War On The Online World.

NASA UPDATE: Big News from the Augustine Panel. More here. Key point: “Human expansion into the solar system must be accepted as the key goal. Otherwise, manned spaceflight is pointless.”

COCKPIT PHOTOS from Virgin Galactic’s WhiteKnight Two.

A FIRST LOOK AT THE 2010 CAMARO. Sounds cool, except for the fact that you can’t actually buy one . . . .

GOOD NEWS, OR BAD? Organic food is no healthier, study finds. “Researchers from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine said consumers were paying higher prices for organic food because of its perceived health benefits, creating a global organic market worth an estimated $48 billion in 2007. A systematic review of 162 scientific papers published in the scientific literature over the last 50 years, however, found there was no significant difference.”

CUTTING ENERGY COSTS with white roofs. That’s old news at InstaPundit.