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 hour to fly to washington state, giving a speech at a boeing assembly plant about increasing american exports. the president's going to talk about his new plan to help u.s. companies compete internationally. the speech is going to build on what he calls his blueprint for an america built to last. and the republican presidential candidates all over the map today. rick santorum in michigan right now speaking at a faith forum. he heads to ohio tonight for a dinner, mitt romney is in michigan then flies to idaho for a rally. ron paul is in washington state and heads to idaho for his rally and newt gingrich holding a rally in georgia today. and congress voting today on a bill to extend the payroll tax cut. keep money in your paycheck. so, for example, if you make $50,000 a year, that is $83 a month you get to keep. the bill extends the tax cut for the rest of the year, also prevent cut in fees for medicare doctors and extends unemployment benefits. 24 hours from now, family, friends and a who's who from the entertainment world will gather to say good-bye to whitney houston. among the celebrities taking part in tomorrow's funeral service you kevin costner, houston's "bodyguard" co-star, alicia keys, stevie wonder, aretha franklin who is also houston's god mother and houston's ex-husband, bobby brown will attend the service. susan candiotti is outside the church in newark, new jersey. i understand they are expecting a lot of people here, the he can security very, very tight already being put in place, set the scene for us if you will there. >> reporter: hi, suzanne, it should be quite a sendoff for whitney houston. a lot of people love her, despite the many struggles she has had in her life. and yes, police are already setting up perimeters around the church, starting to block off some of the streets here and they have told people a time and again the closest any fans will be able to get to this church is at least two blongs away. so a lot of disappointment for fans who are trying to see some of the big celebrities coming here and others who are going to pay their respects to whitney houston but they won't get a closeup view of things at all. in fact, police telling them you shouldn't come by because you are not going to be able to see much. listen. >> the best thing to do would be to stay home and watch the service on television it is going to be aired over all the network channels a and would be the best place to see it the funeral is not going to be a traditional procession as we would normally have. >> reporter: so this may be the last day before the funeral service. the fans will be able to come up and deliver to the church itself flowers and candles and all kinds of personal moment toes. meantime, over at the funeral home, police have also set up a very strict security perimeter there. they have tape up, the funeral home itself has set up drapes to protect some of the entrances to the funeral home, presumably because of privacy. >> and what is the mood there now less than 24 hours away from this service? >> reporter: oh, i would say it is anticipatory. for the most part, been talking to a lot of the fans who continue to come by and they really understand why the family wants to keep this private, disappointed they can't get closer but they are coming here never the less to show their support and their love for whitney houston. >> susan, thank you. bring you live coverage beginning at 11 a.m. eastern. join soledad o'brien, piers morgan and don lemon as the music legend is remembered. coming up in just a few minutes, i will talk with reverend gentleman jesse jackson, a long-time family friend, about his role in the funeral tomorrow, about houston's incredible musical legacy, a legacy that also includes songs like this. ♪ because the greatest love of all is happening to me ♪ ♪ thank you, lord ♪ i found the greatest her personal struggles made headlines but her voice made her a legend. and tomorrow, other music legends are going to pay tribute to whitney houston. it was songs like "i'm your baby tonight" that rocketed houston to the top of the charts. ♪ i can do anything for you baby ♪ ♪ i'll be down for you baby ♪ lay all my cards out tonight ♪ just call on me, baby ♪ i'll be there in a hurry >> she makes you smile. houston's vocal coach and singer/songwriter valerie simpson say it was her voice, not her troubles, that defined her. >> some people, you know, might find fault with that idea, you know, and want to bring in her personal trials and tribulations which have nothing to do with her art industry and her gift to the world. that is -- that is her record, not her personal trials. her record is her music, that incredible voice. >> she was a pure artist. she wasn't an entertainer like other people, she was an artist. her life was based upon her voice. she had a remarkable voice and could do anything, could sing with incredible excitement, seductive, she had the whole thing. >> the world going to remember whitney houston for her musical legacy but her family, frimsd, memory, of course, more personal, reverend jesse jackson, long-time family friend who is going to be taking -- attending the funeral service tomorrow. thank you, reverend, for being with us. you know, every time i see pictures of her in videos, she just make me smile, she really makes me smile. how did you come to meet whitney houston? >> she had that special something. you know, martin king was associated with that church, reverend thomas before the pastor was on sclc's board, early on we got to know her mother, sissy houston, outstanding singer in her own right, the sweet inspiration, she sang with aretha frank linger the contemporary with elvis presley. and so she comes out of a great singing family and friends so she had her own unique talents but from the time she was in the choir at new hope, you know she had that little special pep in her step that special something. >> tell me about the first time you met her. >> she was a teen, didn't meet her as such, just could see her sing. much like when aretha sang, as a teenager in her father's choir, you knew that aretha had something a little different above the cut. she had that same something, later i got to know her and my birthday party last year, bobby brown was there i got to know her and bobby across the years. she is easy to meet, very personable, but when she is mostly nope for this huge voice. i mean, "i will always love you," "the greatest love," the "star-spangled banner," the spine-tingling performance that night during the war, i mean, this is what we know her for and she will be remembered for. >> you have counseled many high-profile, highly accomplished percentage ever counsel whitney houston or members of her family? >> we communicated but people like reverend martin wine nans who will give the eulogy on tomorrow, the wine nans family, the houston family, the wine nans were very close. we had that kind of relationship. you get close but not too close. i was a friend, not a counselor. i knew whitney. she was able to take that voice. she belonged to newark, she was always newark's daughter, a neighborhood girl who made good. so her success, many people revelled in her success and found joy in her singing. she always sang songs that uplifted and never degraded. >> and we saw a picture of you, reverend in 1989, what was she like then? that was the peak of her career? >> well, the rise, she and don cornelius with the soul train, he was the engineer who just left us this week and she of course, was a great passenger on this whole train and she was just easy to meet and the joy of her singing, the powerful voice and the choice of songs, you know, there's a lot of debate about what artists should and shunt do with their artistry. we know her for her artistry and her singing, i might add, on the way to becoming a great actress as well there is a movie coming now the a few months from now, you are going to see another whitney houston even on screen as well. >> well, we are looking forward to that i know that is coming out soon. finally, reverend, what is the one memory that you will take with you that you hope to leave the rest of us? >> well, i suppose praying with her on the one happened. on the other hand, just listening to her sing. i mean, when she hit the notes, that special note, "i will always love you," the "star-spangled banner" that night during the war and the war is always controversial, her singing the "star-spangled banner" at night took the world to a different level so the incredible voice and she was easy to get to know and really a loving person. women not be there tomorrow because she died but we will it will be tomorrow because she lived because we care so much for her, even now, cissy, her mother, daughter, family, reach out to them in a very special way. >> all right. reverend jesse jackson, thank you very much. i know you will be attending the funeral service there a difficult day for many but also a celebration of who she was. thank you, reverend. whitney houston's voice, her success, inspiring countless performers on their own journeys to stardom n a few minutes, we are going to talk to grammy winner ashanti. she is going to join us live with her memories of whitney houston. and tomorrow morning beginning at 11 a.m. eastern, cnn beginning live coverage of whitney houston's funeral, joining piers morgan, soledad o'brien, don lemon, whitney houston, her life, her music, start act tomorrow morning, 11 eastern. the u.n. condemns syria's government for the lawering its own people, but the military keeps right on attacking. we are going to have two live reports from the region. it is now 14 relentless days of this. talking about a constant barrage of shelling unleashed by syrian forces in the city of homs. our journalists say the streets there are deserted because people have either fled or they are too scared to come out. those who venture out risk being killed by snipers or government tanks. as the carnage continues, the international community now struggling to find a way to stop. this the u.n. general assembly has passed a nonbinding resolution calling for syrian president bashar al assad to step down. resistance to the assad regime is spreading across northern syria. our ivan watson reports from a town that is now held by the opposition. >> reporter: this is the last line of defense for an opposition enclave in northern syria, a checkpoint manned by young volunteers, searching cars by the lights of a burning tire. the leader here, 35-year-old abdullah. before the revolution, he made a living selling cars. what are you looking for? what are you protecting against here? we are on the lookout for bashar al assad's thugs and army, abdullah says. entire villages and towns here in northern syria have broken free of the syrian government. there's no syrian military presence at all in this town. instead, children walk to school, pafs the flag of the opposition, which flies over main street. the green, black and red flag a symbol, worn by revolutionaries, making preparations a day before their weekly show of defiance against the government. >> we are preparing for tomorrow. we have tomorrow a big demonstration. >> reporter: this friday, the protest will include a message of support for the besieged city of homs. if that opposition stronghold folds, syrians here in the north know they may be the next to face the wrath of the syrian security forces. this 21-year-old university student doesn't expect help from the international community any time soon. >> we have nothing more now. >> reporter: the syrian government routinely denounces opposition activists, calling them armed terrorists. when they began demonstrating last spring, these young men chanted freedom. [ singing ] now that thousands of syrians have been killed, the chant is harbiya. in english, that means war. >> ivan watson is joining us now from northern syria. ivan, first of all you can the french president, nicolas sarko sarkozy, urging syria's opposition to come together here. he says that revolution can only be brought from the inside. the activists do they think that they can accomplish that from the inside on the ground where you are? >> they are certainly trying to, suzanne, but their resources are limited because these are local activists, these are villages, this is the country side in many case that have risen up, but they are still facing overwhelming military power on the part of the syrian security forces and though there are more weapons now in the hands of the rebels, if you will, they still don't stand any chance against syrian tanks and potential threat of syrian air power. they are calling for some kind of help, desperately calling for help from the outside world. >> ivan, character they are so overwhelmed, outnumbered by government forces, what keeps them going here? what makes them think that they can actually turn things around there? >> i think they do not believe that they are actually outnumbered, suzanne. i think they feel the numbers are on their side and that, full, they think that justice is on their side. they are striking out against a leadership in this decade for five decades, passed on from father to son. they feel like it is undemocratic. they feel like they have right on their side but they are facing a government these been in power for so long that wields force and has a proven track record of using deadly force, where the problem steps in. they also seem to express that they have been backed up against a wall, that so many of their comrades have been killed that they have no choice but to rebel knowing full well that their homes with be destroyed, their family members can be locked up and massacred as well. and there's a certain sense of fatalism here in these communities that make up part of this very tenuous opposition encrave that we are exploring this week. >> ivan, please be safe where you are and continue the reportinglave that we are explo this week. >> ivan, please be safe where you are and continue the reporting. i want to go to nick paton walsh. we are hearing for the president to step down here. is there any muscle, any teeth to this and has there been any response? >> there's no real legal kind of implication from this vote t is symbolic. it is about pretty much the nation who condemn bashar al assad ahead of the vote putting it on a communal piece of paper and lodging that objection after much diplomatic wrangling t may have impact, may ease humanitarian assistance it may increase pressure perhaps on the syrian regime, bear in mind, china and russia, two key powers who blocked the original u.n. security council resolution stood by them through this vote as well. we have recently -- we recently suggested to danny, an activist we spoke to, people are familiar with him from his videos from inside of homs, we asked him what his feelings about the last few months of diplomacy were. this is what he said. >> for the last few months, it is a crime against anything. russia and china will be dealing with with that. what they did they got syrian blood on their hands this is all their fault. the last time the u.n. did nothing, they gave the green light and the okay to bash shar assad to kill more. it was the first time that he got -- that he used rocket launchers after u.n. he felt safe. >> so, that accusation really is that the u.n., through inaction, has been emboldening bashar al assad, something i think you can see in evidence maybe on the ground today. reports of a hinted crackdown and video you are about to see from homs . many residents in the area here, the crackdown continues, the onslaught is absolutely 100% in evidence. in the east from me here, clashes breaking out again this morning, a death toll of about 40 today amid these demonstrations, so, no real suggestion that yesterday's vote has done anything to sway the syrian regime. suzanne? >> such a discouraging situation there on the ground. clearly, people like danny trying to bring attention to this story. thank you very much, nick, we really appreciate it. and another story we are following, whitney houston taking on a lot of up and coming artists under her wing. she inspired countless artists and one of those inspired singers, grammy winner ashanti. ♪ baby i don't know why you want to do me wrong ♪ >> ashanti describes houston as an amazing talent and spirit. she will join us next to talk about being inspire by that amazing talent. okay, team! after age 40, we can start losing muscle -- 8% every 10 years. wow. wow. but you can help fight muscle loss with exercise and ensure muscle health. i've got revigor. what's revigor? it's the amino acid metabolite, hmb to help rebuild muscle and strength naturally lost over time. 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