21-year-old raises money for her funeral

Occasionally, I read something that affects me profoundly. This is one
of those stories. My father died when I was 15 and I remember my
grandmother saying that no parent should have to bury their child. It is
a sentiment that has stuck with me ever since. If you can, please
donate. I know times are tough for a lot of us. But just remember, they
could be tougher. This family is dealing with something far worse than I
ever want to.

http://www.wthitv.com/dpp/news/21-year-old-raises-money-for-her-funeral

Her final Christmas wish
Amanda Jarrett
<http://www.wthitv.com/dpp/news/news_team/Reporter_Amanda_Jarrett>
CLINTON, Ind. (WTHI) - Just days before Christmas, a young woman with
muscular dystrophy is planning her own funeral, so she won't leave the
burden behind for her family.
Sierra Cooper, 21, has battled muscular dystrophy her entire life, then
she received another blow: Being diagnosed with cystic fibrosis. Now,
Sierra faces a grim outlook and doctors said she has little time left.
"If it was up to me, she'd have another 30 to 40 years and she'd bury
me," Sallie Cooper, Sierra's mother, said. "You're not supposed to bury
your child."
Sierra may only have weeks left. This Christmas, her wish isn't under
the tree this year. She's asking for donations to help pay for her
funeral.
"I love my parents and I don't want them to be struggling when I'm
gone," Sierra said.

Sierra isn't eligible for life insurance. Every day is a struggle for
the 21-year-old, as she's hooked to a pack of oxygen and medicine.
That's why her mother wants to give her the only thing she can: A proper
funeral.
"She'll never get a wedding, so I want to do something special for her,"
Sallie said. "She's been planning her own funeral, so of course I want
to give her the funeral she wants."

While she's planning for her final days, Sierra said she's found peace.
"I'm going to be with God and I'm going to be pain-free, no oxygen, no
pain pump," Sierra said. "I'm going to be normal for once and be able to
do the stuff you guys take for granted."
For now, she's living life one day at a time. Sierra prepares for a
final Christmas. She's hoping for help as she leaves her family behind.
If you'd like to help the Cooper family, you can make donations to the
Sierra Cooper Benefit Fund at any First Financial Bank location.

Special thanks to an anonymous reader for finding this.

Make a check payable to First Financial Bank In the Memo line write:

For Sierra Cooper Benefit Fund

Send the check to:

First Financial Bank

P.O. Box 2122

Terre Haute, IN 47802

The First Ladies

First Ladies have traditionally used their status as a cause celeb to advance important social issues. Let us just touch on the living former First Ladies.

Laura Bush worked for furthering education and literacy by establishing the annual National Book Festival in 2001 and advocated women's issues for The Heart Truth and Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

As maligned as she was for her efforts in health care reform, Hillary Clinton worked hard in advocating her views. Even after "Hillarycare" failed, she worked for the passage of the State Children's Health Insurance Program in 1997 and promoted nationwide immunization against childhood illnesses and encouraged older women to seek a mammograms.

Barbara Bush's cause during her term as the Second Lady and as First Lady was also literacy. She called it, "the most important issue we have."

Nancy Reagan founded the "Just Say No" drug awareness campaign. She remarked in 1981, "Understanding what drugs can do to your children, understanding peer pressure and understanding why they turn to drugs is... the first step in solving the problem."

Rosalynn Carter advocated strongly for mental health research and helping refugees, especially children. Mrs. Carter also was a strong proponent of the Equal Rights Amendment.

Betty Ford was noted for raising breast cancer awareness and was a passionate activist for the Equal Rights Amendment. She has remained active even since by founding the Betty Ford Center for substance abuse and addiction.

No matter what your politics, you have to respect the fact that these women all worked tirelessly to support the causes they loved.

What has Michelle Obama supported?

To be honest, I don't really know. All I see of her in print and on TV is fawning reports about her fashion sense.

I don't want to be unfair to her. I am sure she has done things that are unreported. But that is my point, they are unreported. I had to do some digging on the internet to find out she has visited homeless shelters and soup kitchens.

I am not criticising the First Lady in this post. I am criticising the MEDIA. And maybe I am criticising the citizens of our country that seem to think that what she wears or how she styles her kid's hair is important news. I have read some things about her using her "Star Power" as a role model. But role model for what? Come on Main Stream Media, stop fawning over the Obamas and do your jobs.

Obama Insults Germany

President Obama is travelling to Germany to attend the 20th anniversary
celebration Monday of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Of course he would not travel to celebrate the downfall of Communism
when he is pushing the socialistic US government take over of even more
of the private sector with Obamacare.
I mean after TARP allowed the fed to invade the banking and finance
industry and the auto bailout grabbed control of the US automotive
industry, and now healthcare and insurance (not to mention all the other
great invasive government control ideas) why WOULD Obama want to
celebrate the fall of the very ideas he promotes?
Or it could be he is just still miffed at the Germans for not allowing
him to speak at the Brandenburg gate back when he was campaigning......

Why is one tragedy worse than another?

The attack at Fort Hood yesterday is a tragedy. I am not trying to
downplay that or take away from the family and friends of those killed
and wounded.
Congress had a moment of silence for all the soldiers killed at Fort
Hood yesterday. Which is all well and good, but why they don't have
moments of silence for the soldiers killed in combat? Or the ones killed
in training accidents? We had a Coast Guard plane and Marine helicopter
collide off the coast of California last week. Did those nine missing
people get a moment of silence? What about the soldiers killed in
Afghanistan or Iraq? When do they get a Congressional moment of silence?

It Is All About Him

President Obama campaigned for the incumbent Democrat New Jersey
Governor in Camden, NJ.

"You need to work hard on Tuesday. I need you to go back into your
neighborhood. I'm going to need you to knock on doors. ... I'm going to
need you to do the same thing you did last year," he said.

So, somehow, in another person's election....it is still all about HIM.
Hello, Mr. Narcissist.

But I notice that Chairman O has not put much effort into the Virginia
Governor's race. I guess Creigh Deeds and Virginia just don't matter as
much to the One.

Scozzafava Backs Former Democrat Opponent

Faux Republican Dede Scozzafava has endorsed her former Democratic opponent in New York's 23rd district's Congressional race. She dropped out after her liberal stances on conservative issues started being reported in national media outlets.

When national conservative icons like Rush Limbaugh , Sarah Palin and Fred Thompson (not to mention ALL the conservative talk show hosts) came out backing her Conservative
Party opponent, Dan Hoffman, any hope she had of winning was lost.

Now in a snit, she has backed her Democrat opponent, Bill Owens. It looks like she has showed her true colors. Scozzafava is not a conservative Republican. With her support of Card Check and other hard left agenda items, I find it hard to believe she is a Republican. Certainly many Republicans don't conserider her to reflect the values we hold. Gengrich and the National Republican Party leadership made a mistake backing her and it is showing. How can the national party be so out of touch with the values the people OF the party hold?

Now we have White House Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett suggested that Hoffman's surging popularity as a sign that the Republican Party is squeezing out moderates. "It's rather telling when the Republican Party forces out a moderate Republican and it says, I think, a great deal about where the Republican Party is right now," she said. "I think it's becoming more and more extreme and more and more marginalized."

Another Senior Adviser David Axelrod said that "It sends a clear message to moderates within that party that there's no room at the inn for them."

Chris Van Hollen, D-Md, the DCCC Chairman has said in a statement that the developments in New York should send a "chilling message" to other moderate Republicans.

What "chilling message" is this? That the Republican Party has people in positions of leadership that are not Conservative?

Time to Be Fair....

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said, "There's two political
parties, two major political parties in this country. One party doesn't
accept contributions from registered federal lobbyists. That same party
doesn't accept contributions from political action committees."

Let's be fair then and talk about the way the Obama campaign allowed for
online contributions BELOW a certain dollar amount to no be tracked and
reported. I wonder how many of his millions were little 1-5 dollar
transactions done over and over and over from foreign countries?

Term Limits.

Why do we term limit the President, but not Congress?
If Congress wanted to limit the power of the Executive Branch because of
FDR's 4 terms in office, then why would we not want to apply the same
logic to the Legislative Branch? Seems like limiting power would be an
easy way to limit corruption and the ability some Congressmen have to
ignore their constituents.