Francis David Sommer

May 12, 1983 - February 11, 2011

“Attitude toward Death”
From The Teaching of Tecumseh

Live your life that the fear of death
can never enter your heart.
Trouble no one about his religion.
Respect others in their views
and demand that they respect yours.
Love your life, perfect your life,
beautify all things in your life.
Seek to make your life long
and of service to your people.
Prepare a noble death song for the day
when you go over the great divide.
Always give a word or sign of salute when meeting
or passing a friend, or even a stranger, if in a lonely place.
Show respect to all people, but grovel to none.
When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light,
for your life, for your strength.
Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living.
If you see no reason to give thanks,
the fault lies in yourself.
Touch not the poisonous firewater that makes wise ones turn to fools
and robs the spirit of its vision.
When your time comes to die, be not like those
whose hearts are filled with fear of death,
so that when their time comes they weep and pray
for a little more time to live their lives over again
in a different way.
Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home.

Kansas City VA Voluntary Services 135
4801 Linwood Blvd.
Kansas City, MO 64128
Checks payable to the KCVA.
Reference the Francis D. Sommer Memorial Fund on the memo line.

or

  Fisher House Foundation
111 Rockville Pike, Ste. 420
Rockville, MD 20850
Checks payable to Fisher House Foundation.
Reference the Francis D. Sommer Memorial Fund on the memo line.

Obituary, photos, tributes

Hightower: 'Obama, Inc.'

With Daley and Immelt on board, our president is waltzing with the devil.

By Jim Hightower
(Posted Feb. 7, 2011, at otherwords.org)

When you dance with the devil, never fool yourself into thinking that you're leading.

That would be my 50-cents-worth of advice to President Barack Obama as he remakes his presidency into a Clintonesque corporate enterprise. Following last fall's congressional elections, he immediately began blowing kisses to CEOs and big business lobbyists, and he's now filled his White House dance card with them.

Sierra Club Moves to Intervene in Justice Department Case Against BP

Group Seeks $21 Billion in Civil Penalties,

Restoration of Gulf Coast Communities, Water, Wildlife

NEW ORLEANS- Today, the Sierra Club filed a motion to intervene in the U.S. Justice Department’s civil suit against BP, arising from last year’s oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the largest offshore drilling disaster in American history. The Justice Department suit, filed on December 15, 2010, seeks to recoup costs and damages under the 1990 Oil Pollution Act, well in excess of $75 million, and to impose additional fines under the Clean Water Act that could reach $21 billion. The motion was filed in the U.S. District Court in New Orleans.