Last Wednesday we noted that the Washington Post was selling special "Commemorative Edition" post-election issues that trumpeted Sen. Obama's victory -- at a 300 percent markup over the regular price of 50 cents.  Of course, we noted the disconnect between the Post's actions and what they like to call "price gouging" when less politically correct industries sell something for a fair price in a free market.

Well, that all seems so quaint now that we've gotten word that the Post is selling those same Commemorative Editions for $9.95 a pop!  If my public-school math is correct, that's nearly a 2,000 percent markup -- for an incomplete newspaper that only includes the first two sections!  You'd think that for that kind of money, they'd at least throw in the Sports section!

We look forward to Sen. Dianne Feinstein calling for a high-profile hearing investigating the Post's clear price gouging and the need for them to pay a hefty "windfall profits" tax on this breathtaking act of greed. Right after she makes it a federal crime to sell Inauguration tickets on eBay, of course.

HT: Instapundit

Here in the liberal bastion of the District of Columbia, the election of Barack Obama has been welcomed with a grassroots euphoria similar to the kind that welcomed American troops in France in 1945.  That may sound like a stretch, but there were literally thousands and thousands of people dancing in the streets, shooting off fireworks, and honking car horns well into the wee hours of the morning.

So it should come as no surprise that it's been next to impossible to find a newspaper anywhere today -- everybody apparently wants a souvenir of yesterday's historic election. Which is why the Washington Post is understandably printing a special commerative edition this afternoon -- for $1.50 a pop -- a full $1 (or 300%) above the normal price of 50 cents.

Ah, I get it.  When "Big Oil" or local gas stations price their product in a way that accurately reflects the market's high demand, they call that greedy "price gouging." 

But when the Big Media marks up its newspapers 300% to meet market demand, that's just wisely using the free market to provide a product to the people who want or need it the most.

Riiiigght.

The votes haven't even been cast yet, but if what we're hearing today from Capitol Hill liberals is any indication, we could be in for a long, long couple of years.

First, Senator Chuck Schumer said this morning that we need a so-called "Fairness Doctrine" because discussing free-market ideas on talk radio is apparently akin to using the airwaves to broadcast hard-core pornography.

Now Virginia Congressman Jim Moran blasts the "simplistic notion that people who have wealth are entitled to keep it:

"For the last seven years we have had the highest corporate profit ever in American history. . . But it hasn't been shared, and that's the problem, because we have been guided by a Republican Administration who believes in the simplistic notion that people who have wealth are entitled to keep it.  They have an antipathy toward the means of redistributing wealth."

Wow.  I shudder to think what they're going to say and do after the polls actually close! 

As we prepare to transition from the campaign season to a seemingly inevitable push in Washington toward higher taxes, bigger government, increased trade restrictions and a "New New Deal," bookmark and file away this op-ed from this morning's Wall Street Journal.

It lays out five myths about the Great Depression.  They say history always repeats itself, and the way things look right now, we're going to have to dust this column off for the fight against a possible, dreadful repeat of the 1930s.  Here's the summary, but check out the whole thing:

1. Herbert Hoover, elected president in 1928, was a doctrinaire, laissez-faire, look-the-other way Republican who clung to the idea that markets were basically self-correcting.

2. The stock market crash in October 1929 precipitated the Great Depression.

3. Where the market had failed, the government stepped in to protect ordinary people.

4. Greed caused the stock market to overshoot and then crash.

5. Enlightened government pulled the nation out of the worst downturn in its history and came to the rescue of capitalism through rigorous regulation and government oversight.

Sound familar?

For much of this year, we've been out there ringing alarm bells about how devastating proposed cap-and-trade global warming legislation would be to our economy and our way of life.

We said it would lead to skyrocketing energy prices, lost jobs and less freedom.  Many on the left said energy prices would rise little, if at all, although we did find some nice MoveOn.org folks who openly admitted the left's dirty little secret -- that they really want higher energy prices to force Americans into accepting unviable alternative energy sources.

Of course, we lamented the fact that liberal politicians wouldn't just come clean and admit what they wanted to do.  But it turns out Barack Obama actually did tell the truth at least once to a major American newspaper, but the San Francisco Chronicle apparently didn't think The Next President of the United States saying he wanted to "bankrupt" the entire coal industry and cause electricity prices to "skyrocket" was particularly newsworthy.

Check out this audio clip and determine for yourself whether there might have been a follow-up question from the media if a conservative had said this.

Professor Lerrick from Carnegie Mellon University wrote an excellent Op Ed in the Wall Street Journal today.  He outlined the tipping point that we are approaching with more Americans receiveing government than paying for it. 

Here is the meat:

"The sequence is always the same. High-tax, big-spending policies force the economy to lose momentum. Then growth in government spending outstrips revenues. Fiscal and trade deficits soar. Public debt, excessive taxation and unemployment follow. The central bank tries to solve the problem by printing money. International competitiveness is lost and the currency depreciates. The system stagnates. And then a frightened electorate returns conservatives to power."

Click here to read the whole piece. 

If union-boss-backed majorities control Washington next year, this is what many workers have to look to forward to.  Only the union bosses will be intimidating them -- not cameramen:

On October 10^th & 11^th, more than 1,400 citizen activists from across the country traveled to Washington, D.C. for our second annual Americans for Prosperity Foundation Defending the American Dream Summit.
 
These top AFP citizen-activists stormed the capitol in a massive show of force for limited government, less regulation, and lower taxes. The politicians and media took note as our message was spread to millions of Americans through coverage on Fox News, CNN, CSPAN and CBN.

Our AFP activists received the best available grassroots and issues training, and heard from inspiring speakers like George Will and John Stossel. To view video of the keynote speeches, or to see pictures from the event, please click on the links below.

Additional video is availible by clicking here.

Click here to view pictures.

One of the highlights of our Defending the American Dream Summit a couple of weeks ago was our huge rally on Capitol Hill, where we made the case that the financial crisis wasn't caused by a supposedly free market run amok, but by flawed government policies.

Well, today, the radical, extreme right-wing Washington Post editorial board backs us up:

"As financial panic spread across the globe and governments scrambled to contain the damage, reality seemed to announce the doom of U.S.-style free markets and President Bush's ideology.

"But this is wrong in two ways. The deregulation of U.S. financial markets did not reflect only the narrow ideology of a particular party or administration. And the problem with the U.S. economy, more than lack of regulation, has been government's failure to control systemic risks that government itself helped to create. We are not witnessing a crisis of the free market but a crisis of distorted markets."

Exactly what we've been saying all along.  Read the whole thing here.

Ethics. The FBI is investigating whether Rep. Tim Mahoney, D-Fla., misused federal money when he hired a mistress to work in his office, a senior federal law enforcement official told the Associated Press today.

Federal agents also are examining whether a second affair Mahoney was having with a high-level official in his south-central Florida district was the reason behind his decision to push for federal emergency funds for her county, the official said. 

The agency also wants to know whether any sexual favors were exchanged for Mahoney helping Martin County secure a $3.4 million reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for hurricane damage there. The second affair was confirmed by a person close to Mahoney's campaign. 

Wow.  At least Spitzer used his own money. 

Yesterday we linked to a WSJ editorial exposing the fact that Sen. Obama's proposed "tax relief for 95% of working Americans" really amounts to a welfare check for many of them.

Today, Obama's claim that only the "wealthiest Americans" -- you know, those scoundrels on Wall Street and those $1,000-suit-wearing DC lobbyists -- would be subject to a tax hike.

Check out the video below of a Pennsylvania plumber pressing Obama on his tax plan -- he actually gets the Illinois Senator to admit that he doesn't really want to grow the economy -- just redistribute the wealth from hard-working Americans like this plumber and give it to people who have earned and achieved less for whatever reason. 

The Wall Street Journal has a great piece this morning that exposes the truth behind Sen. Obama's claim that he's going to cut taxes for 95% of Americans / working families.  Long story short: in Obama's world "tax cut" = "welfare check" -- 

In other words, they are an income transfer -- a federal check -- from taxpayers to nontaxpayers. Once upon a time we called this "welfare," or in George McGovern's 1972 campaign a "Demogrant." Mr. Obama's genius is to call it a tax cut.

You can read the whole thing here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122385651698727257.html

But of course, we should also take all of Obama's campaign tax promises with a grain of salt, since he's likely to do the same thing Bill Clinton did when he took office in 1993 -- claim that he didn't realize how badly those awful Republicans screwed things up until he actually got the keys and looked under the hood himself.  And you remember Clinton's fix, right?  The largest tax hike in American history.  Don't say you weren't warned. 

Day Two: Defending the American Dream 

I wanted to share an anecdote from backstage at last night’s general session...  George Will came off stage and commented to our President Tim Phillips, “I think I’ve lived in DC too long and it is starting to weigh me down.  Then I came to your Summit and I got reenergized.”  George Will’s point spoke to one of the core missions of our summit this year: to share our support for one another and remind each other that we are not alone.  I cannot tell you how heartening it is to hear that our voices are influential not only horizontally among each other but also up through the system to support the leaders of our movement.

The morning session has come to close and folks are breaking for lunch.  The highlights from the session include speeches from Herman Cain, Fred Barnes, Steve Moore, Grover Norquist and John Fund, among others.  A roll call from each of our state directors really got the state delegations charged up as we recalled our victories over the past year. 

The afternoon is dedicated to breakout sessions where we will engaged in intense grassroots training.  The first sessions will separately cover Emerging Issues in 2009, Turning Ideas in Action, Students for Prosperity and Right Online blogger training.     

The first day of the 2nd annual Defending the American Dream Summit is drawing to a close and by any measure it has been a rousing success.

Our rally on Capitol Hill was attended by nearly 800 passionate activists from across the country. The sun was shining and the event served as a great focusing event for all of the energy that our grassroots membership brought to Washington.

The Tribute to Ronald Reagan Dinner was packed with over 1200 people hungry for the inspiring words of George Will, Ed Meese, Dinesh D’Souza and our chairman David Koch.

The turnout for this year’s summit has soared to easily surpass last year. The committement and excitement displayed by our members is unrivaled at any event I have attended in DC. And we are only half way done.

Watch this space tomorrow for more updates as the general sessions begins and we break into smaller groups to discuss state delegation issues, grassroots organization, college campus motivation and the left’s strategy going forward.

The Defending the American Dream Summit is off to a roaring start; can’t wait to see how it finishes.

The Summit is upon us.  After months of planning and thousands of miles traveled, AFP's membership is descending on Washington DC for the 2nd annual Defending the American Dream Summit. 

The lobby is buzzing and registrants are staring to arrive.  People are really excited for the opportunity to bring the free-market message to DC in the face of the country’s economic challenges.  It is precisely at times like these that we must rise to the defense of our ideals.

At 2 pm today, AFP’s membership will be in rallying in front of the Grant Statue on Capital Hill.  If you’re in the area, stop by and lend your voice to the cause.

Watch this space for updates throughout the conference.