The Question: Who Brought The T-shirts?

Yesterday, I raised the question (Here). We have the answer today and a whole lot more. Further, the evidence shows the White House and the Obama Political operation dominated the planning. Beyond that, Michelle Obama used the opportunity to mislead parents about American principles.

The First Lady misleading later but first the T-shirts

Judi McLeod, Editor at the Canada Free Press, wrote the following superb article yesterday, January 14, 2011.

Theme of “Together We Thrive” T-shirt came from Obama’s Organizing for America

The “Together We Thrive” T-shirts that starred at Wednesday’s Arizona `Memorial’ originated from Organizing for America (here), a sad fact unearthed by The Drumbeat of Liberty and the Preservation of Freedom editor and Canada Free Press (CFP) columnist Robert Rohlfing.

In the controversy of the pep rally/rock concert style Memorial for those who lost their lives in Saturday’s Arizona tragedy, the mainstream media reported that the “Together We Thrive: Tucson & America” T-shirt given to mourners as they entered McKale Center was the idea of University of Arizona brass, not the Obama administration.

Yet the “Together We Thrive” slogan dates back to a post to Obama’s own Organizing for America in a Feb. 11, 2008 post by self-described “globalist” John Berry IV.

More than passing strange that the Obama campaign message of civility was the same on Feb. 11, 2008 as it was in his Wednesday Memorial speech, and the same one, too carried by the mainstream media in coverage of the Memorial.


“For too long Americans have been set one against the other.  It is a side affect of a free market society,” Berry IV posted.  “How can profits be maximized, how can I get the work down for the lowest possible costs.  This continually sets one group against the other, especially in the blue collar sectors of America.  It has become part of the American Business model, whether it was indentured servants, slaves picking cotton, sharecroppers, the industrious people that built the railroads or today’s migrant workers.  As long as we remain divided, fighting for the scraps that America has to offer it will be one group against the other.

“What I see in Obama is a chance for revolution. (Italics CFP’s).  A chance for every group to be heard; A chance to live the American dream that has been denied to so many…

“In a previous career, I was the global leader of Diversity for a global fortune 500 corporation.  I have studied the affects of diverse groups working together and the results can not be denied.  Together we Thrive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

University of Arizona brass did not originate the “Together We Thrive” T-shirt.  They merely recycled it for Obama—and recycled it in time for what should have been a dignified Memorial for the dead.

If you were a mourner who took home a “Together We Thrive” T-shirt have a look at the bottom of your shirt.  “Rocking America and Rocking the Vote” is a common theme of the DNC,  and it’s right there on your Memorial T-shirt memento.

Welcome to the era of Obama, where cheering and standing ovations, for the first time in history, became part of the Requiem for the Dead.

Judi made one small mistake —the last sentence. Obviously the Wellstone Memorial preceded this Obama Pep Rally by more than eight years.

Michelle Obama’s Attempt to Mislead America’s Parents

Michelle Obama posted this “Letter” to parents on the White House Blog Thursday:

·       An Open Letter to Parents Following the Tragedy in Tucson

Posted by First Lady Michelle Obama on January 13, 2011 at 6:07 PM EST

Dear parents,

Like so many Americans all across the country, Barack and I were shocked and heartbroken by the horrific act of violence committed in Arizona this past weekend.  Yesterday, we had the chance to attend a memorial service and meet with some of the families of those who lost their lives, and both of us were deeply moved by their strength and resilience in the face of such unspeakable tragedy.

As parents, an event like this hits home especially hard.  It makes our hearts ache for those who lost loved ones.  It makes us want to hug our own families a little tighter.  And it makes us think about what an event like this says about the world we live in – and the world in which our children will grow up.

In the days and weeks ahead, as we struggle with these issues ourselves, many of us will find that our children are struggling with them as well.  The questions my daughters have asked are the same ones that many of your children will have – and they don’t lend themselves to easy answers.  But they will provide an opportunity for us as parents to teach some valuable lessons – about the character of our country, about the values we hold dear, and about finding hope at a time when it seems far away.

We can teach our children that here in America, we embrace each other, and support each other, in times of crisis.  And we can help them do that in their own small way – whether it’s by sending a letter, or saying a prayer, or just keeping the victims and their families in their thoughts.

We can teach them the value of tolerance – the practice of assuming the best, rather than the worst, about those around us.  We can teach them to give others the benefit of the doubt, particularly those with whom they disagree. 

Read the rest (Here).

This idea, “the value of tolerance” is not just wrong but dangerous. She defined tolerance as, “[T]he practice of assuming the best, rather than the worst, about those around us.  We can teach them to give others the benefit of the doubt, particularly those with whom they disagree.” This is the very false mindset that allowed Jared Laughner to remain at large. It is not guns or conservative commentators that cause this type of massacre, it is the First Lady’s type of tolerance.

Let’s Take A Hard Look at Tolerance

Tolerance has been taught in American schools for at least 30 years. Perhaps we should know the meaning of “tolerance.” Merriam Webster says tolerance is:

1.      : capacity to endure pain or hardship : endurance, fortitude, stamina

2.      a : sympathy or indulgence for beliefs or practices differing from or conflicting with one’s own

b : the act of allowing something : toleration

3.      : the allowable deviation from a standard; especially : the range of variation permitted in maintaining a specified dimension in machining a piece

4.      a (1) : the capacity of the body to endure or become less responsive to a substance (as a drug) or a physiological insult especially with repeated use or exposure <developed a tolerance to painkillers>; also : the immunological state marked by unresponsiveness to a specific antigen (2) : relative capacity of an organism to grow or thrive when subjected to an unfavorable environmental factor

b : the maximum amount of a pesticide residue that may lawfully remain on or in food

So, they are teaching, and Mrs. Obama is advocating, the second definition.  An American Principle is to indulge beliefs and practices conflicting with our own. New people move next door. You learn the man has a belief and practice of raping the female neighbors. How’s tolerance working out?

Well, I guess we Christians and Jews are supposed to tolerate Muslims. Let’s follow a little example in New York City:

Mayor Bloomberg invoked the “American principle of tolerance” in his insistence on promoting a triumphal mosque at Ground Zero in New York City. Not building a triumphal mosque at that sacred place would somehow “violate American principles of tolerance and openness.” Got it? Mayor Bloomberg is determined to operate on the principle of tolerance.

However, he has effectively banned tobacco and trans-fats in New York. Well, neither of those are great things but is the mayor following his “American Principle of tolerance?”

Now, in another fit of intolerance, the Mayor is forcing a reduction of dietary salt. Have you heard about the Mayor’s intolerance for Wal-Mart? Yes, he and his cohorts continue to block Wal-Mart. Pretty intolerant. What do we know he is tolerant of?

• Islam and forms of Shariah law.
• Homosexuality.
• Abortion

Perhaps someone can find something else Mayor Bloomberg tolerates. We do know for Mayor Bloomberg, tolerance is a device (not a principle) to force something onto We the People we do not want and to deny us things we want; prayer in public, for example.

Make no mistake, tolerance is a device the left uses to control you or get your property. The Congressional Black Caucus is a fine example.

As I have written before; as a child, my mother loved me unconditionally but she did not tolerate bad behavior.

There are clearly times when each of us should tolerate someone or something, but tolerance is not an American Principle!

It defies sanity that, just four days after a heinous vile assassination attempt and brutal massacre, the First Lady of the United States of America, would counsel America’s parents to teach their children to be tolerant of such people.