you re exposed to sniper positions that are just around the corner on the other side of those buildings. final preparations are under way for a farewell, not to just a pop superstar but a daughter, a mother, a friend. whitney houston s funeral is tomorrow in the church where she sang as a child u the pastor says the service will be personal and dignified. it will also be a gathering of celebrities including houston s god mother, aretha franklin. on the today show, she talked about the difficulty of singing at that service tomorrow. it is not gonna be easy, i can tell you that. it is not gonna be easy, but cissy asked me to and i m just going to try to do my best. do you know what you are going to sing? not really sure right now. not really sure. the dow continues to flirt with the 13,000 mark, extending gains from yesterday s session. alison kosik is watching the action for us at the new york stock exchange. and the president boarding air force one in about an h
month. the u.n. general assembly plans to stroet this afternoon on a resolution condemning president assad for the brutal crackdown. our journalists in syria say government forces appear to be losing their tight grip across the northern part of the country. we re going to get a firsthand account on the ground from cnn s ivan watson. reporter: young men and old sit on the ground chain-smoking next to assault rifles, but they say they ve gotten these weapons within the last couple of months. they re trying to protect their communities, their families and villages by laying rings of improvised land mines but they re aware they do not have weaponry to match the tanks or personal carriers and air power of bashar al assad s army. we are learning more about how whitney houston spent her last days. they say she was drinking heavily the week before her body was found in a beverly hills hotel room. hotel guests heard her complaining that her drinks waurpted down. here s what dr. dr
to his day job. he would have to make a choice to fill up the gas tank to get to work or do i give up my entrepreneurial dream. $40, he wrote, means a heck of a lot. it means a heck of a lot. that s what this debate is all about. this is what s at stake for millions of americans. this is why it matters to people. it matters a heck of a lot. i m asking the american people to keep their stories coming. tell us what $40 means to you. if you tweet it, use the hash tag $40. call, tweet, write your congressman, write your senators. tell them, do not let up until this thing gets done. don t let taxes go up on 160 million working americans. don t let americans out there looking for work and the economy is starting to improve but they don t have a job yet, don t leave them without a lifeline in terms of cutting off their unemployment insurance. when a plane is lifting off the ground, you don t ease up on the throttle. you keep going. our plane is up there, but we re not at cruising al