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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 McKate Center was the idea of University of Arizona brass, not the Obama administration.

Good Friday morning. TOP TALKER – DNC BRAINSTORMS 2012 WITH BUNDLERS -- Jeanne Cummings: “Bracing for a half-billion-dollar onslaught of outside GOP cash in 2012, President Obama’s advisers are quietly working to bring back together the major donor base that produced a record-breaking fundraising haul in his first run for president. In the past few months, Democratic National Committee aides have contacted several of Obama’s earliest financial backers to brainstorm about when and where to host the first money-raising events. Several big donors said they expect the Obama 2012 operation to open its doors this spring, with a string of...

The Origins of the Collectivist Message Behind Obama's Tucson Pep Rally Even after nearly a week of the Left’s vitriolic and unwarranted public lynching of the Right over last Saturday’s massacre by a left-wing lunatic in Tuscon, I was willing to give the President the benefit of the doubt after (by most accounts) doing well in delivering Cody Keenan’s well-drafted speech on Wednesday. Heck, even his teleprompter performed without flaw, the pauses built in right at the appropriate applause lines. Although it appears as though the Obama White House was lying in wait for an Oklahoma City Moment so the...

Voila. From Daily Kos on January 14, 2011: Host a SOTU "Together We Thrive" PROGRESS PARTY! It's time to Network For Progress! We need to put the "working" into NETroots! Join us in DC and/or reach your local Obama/OFA, Progressive, Democratic and other Cause or Civic-minded groups and activists to host a State of the Union Party on Tue 1/25 and future collaborations so we can re-build the coalition that has been neglected since November 2008. Although OFA has done lots of great work the Social, Social Media & Media outreach efforts we need to compete with the GOP's Fox...

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...

What was billed as a memorial for victims of the Arizona shooting rampage turned into a rollicking rally, leaving some conservative commentators wondering whether President Barack Obama's speech was a scripted political event. Not so, insisted the White House and host University of Arizona. Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said Thursday he and other aides didn't expect the president's remarks at the school's basketball arena to receive as much rousing applause as it did. Gibbs said the crowd's response, at times cheering and shouting, was understandable.

Ruh-Roh. This can’t end well… Krauthammer disagreed with Rush Limbaugh’s view of the Obama speech last night saying he has “a condescending view of much of America.” Krauthammer disagreed with Rush’s assessment that the elites were slobbering all over the president’s speech last night.

The tragedy cycle is just about complete. It only took a week for the Arizona shootings to morph from stark violence to brand name, political vehicle, culture forum and dramatic press tableau - complete with a memorial service that sanitized grief while marketing instant national "healing" and commemorative T-shirts.

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

Many Americans were startled to see University of Arizona students distributing t-shirts at the memorial service in Tucson yesterday. On the front of the shirts, "Together We Thrive" was printed, along with a trendy logo. University spokeswoman Jennifer Fitzenberger told FoxNation.com "it was our idea to do the t-shirts."

Occasionally, political pundits get so wrapped up in their analysis that they don’t think through all of the implications of their commentary. That happened to Mark Penn, longtime Democratic pollster, in his appearance on Hardball last night, in the most charitable explanation possible. Eyeblast’s Joe Schoffstall clips this magic moment from the discussion with Chris Matthews on how disconnected Barack Obama has become from the American electorate, and what it will take for him to reconnect, using Bill Clinton as an example:(video of Chris Matthews show) President Clinton reconnected with Oklahoma. And the President right now he seems removed. And...

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) -- Summoning the soul of a nation, President Barack Obama on Wednesday implored Americans to honor those slain and injured in the Arizona shootings by becoming better people, telling a polarized citizenry that it is time to talk with each other "in a way that heals, not in a way that wounds." Following a hospital bedside visit with Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, the target of the assassination, he said: "She knows we're here, and she knows we love her."

TUCSON, Ariz. — Remarks of President Barack Obama, as delivered Wednesday at the "Together We Thrive" memorial service for the victims of the Jan. 8 attack on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords that killed six and wounded 13, including the congresswoman: "To the families of those we've lost; to all who called them friends; to the students of this university, the public servants gathered tonight, and the people of Tucson and Arizona: I have come here tonight as an American who, like all Americans, kneels to pray with you today, and will stand by you tomorrow. "There is nothing I can say...

Mister President, here’s the bar that you have to clear. VIDEO AT LINK It’s a high one. A much higher one than your attendants are telling you that it is. They are almost certainly telling you to concentrate on the ‘blood libel’ comment - which, by the way, will immediately resonate with at least 40% of the population of the country, mostly because it is darned accurate* - but what you really need to do is take note of the fact that she’s saying the things that the President should be saying right now about the need to come together,...

White House Says It Wasn't Responsible for Picking Rowdy Basketball Arena for Arizona Memorial Service Thursday, January 13, 2011 By Fred Lucas Washington (CNSNews.com) – White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Thursday that the White Houes was not responsible for choosing a basketball arena, as opposed to a church or a smaller auditorium that might be more conducive to a solemn event, for Wednesday's night's memorial service in Tucson, Ariz. The McKale Memorial Center, an athletics facility at the University of Arizona, was packed with a reported 14,000 people, who repeatedly broke out in cheers and screams of a...

Even before the first words were spoken at this evening's memorial service for the victims of Saturday's massacre in Tucson, the atmosphere turned overtly political. White House operatives passed out t-shirts to the crowd with Obama's new campaign logo, 'Together We Thrive.' The words were also taped to the seats in which mourners would sit during the service. WireUpdate reported the following: During Wednesday night’s memorial service of the fallen and wounded in the Arizona shooting tragedy attendees received a free t-shirt with a “Together We Thrive” logo emblazon on the front. Many conservatives were outraged that the President and...

5 Nights after 6 people were slaughtered, a "Celebration of Barack Obama" was held in Arizona. This event advertised as a "Memorial," included slogans and free T-Shirts; ..no really. The atmosphere was that of a Campaign Rally or Rock Concert. Not a single prayer was said for the victims, but screams of ecstasy and worship rang out; as Obama entered the venue. The screams of ecstasy and joy were so constant throughout the event, I really had to ask; did they put "Vibrators" in the shirts?  This mockery of the victims and their families, was just an extension of the...

<p>Divers who took metal samples for the first time from the hull of the USS Arizona last month came up with some qualified good news: the historic battleship is not decaying as rapidly as thought.</p> <p>"What we can say at this point — and this is like dripping-wet, standing-on-the-dock early — it looks like the rate of corrosion is well below that of what would be expected for steel in seawater," Larry Murphy, an archaeologist with the National Park Service's Submerged Cultural Resources Unit, said yesterday.</p>