www.vitac.com >>> tonight, senator joe lieberman says the votes are there, including five republicans for lifting don't ask, don't tell. lawmakers, racing to do that and a whole lot more. but now they're fighting over working through the holidays. some republicans, accusing democrats of disrespecting christmas and christians. we're keeping them honest. >> also surgery for the obese, at least it used to be just for the very obese. now millions more americans could be eligible for what's called lap-band surgery. but do the people pushing it, the companies pushing it, really have the data to show that it works and it's safe? who's looking out for you? dr. phil mcgraw and sanjay gupta join us. >>> and a deeper look at what happened in that dramatic meeting room as a gunman came in and opened fire on a school board. new details of who he was and the amazing stories of survival, that's coming up. we begin as always keeping them honest with major developments on repealing don't ask don't tell, and a major argument over whether or not congress should keep working into the christmas holiday. i

joe lieberman deserves a lot of credit.oe said if we were to send over don't ask, don't tell separately that he believed he could get through both the procedure hurdles and get enough votes. we did that. we did it to be cooperative. for one of the rare examples of good cooperation. we got 25 more votes -- 35 more votes for it this time than we did last time. the momentum is on our side. senator reid filed cloture tonight. the vote will be saturday. the republicans had been hiding behind the argument we had to do the tax bill and the funding of the government. those will be out of the way. i am confident now you that we have it. speaker pelosi and hoyer made it clear we were not prepared to pass the rest of the defense bill until the senate move for cloture. the way is clear for both to happen. you quoted jim demint. of all the phony republican arguments, one of the phoneiest is, we shouldn't be doing this if a lame duck session. if you believe that, then impeaching the president of the united states is unimportant. the repu

don't ask, don't tell in this session, it's going to be an historic accomplishment. >> senator joe lieberman, i appreciate your time, sir. thank you. >> thank you, anderson. >> senator lieberman definitely sound optimistic. those against it still dug in, listen to what louie gohmert said about the idea that history would judge this congress poorly if the law was repealed. >> to my friend who said history will judge us poorly, i will submit if you look thoroughly at history, and i'm not saying it's cause and effect, but when militaries throughout history of the greatest nations in the world have adopted the policy that, fine, for homosexuality to be overt, if you can't, that's fine too, they're toward the end of their existence as a great nation. >> now, keeping them honest, mr. gohmert doesn't offer evidence or specifics about what nations he's talking about. we're not able to fact check roman military policy or greek, ancient greek military policy as it relates to gays serving openly. we can look at nations currently letting gays serve openly. here it is, the biggest ones, australia, belgiu

i spoke earlier today with senator joe lieberman, independent of connecticut. senator lieberman, based on what you heard today, is there any legitimate reason for keeping this policy in place? >> no. i don't think after today's hearing, after the report put out by the pentagon a couple of days ago, there is no legitimate reason for sustaining the don't ask don't tell policy. i mean, i thought admiral mullen and chairman of joint chiefs of staff said something that summed it all up. today, based on the report and survey that was issued by the pentagon a couple of days ago, admiral mullen said it's my professional opinion that we can make this change, which is right, and do it in a way that will not compromise our military effectiveness. >> you've actually called this policy un-american. >> i think it is un-american. the basic american value, to me, enshrined in the declaration of independence is that we're all created equal. that was god's work. and as such we're all endowed with the same rights. at the beginning, those rights were obviously not really given to a

and it's the right thing to do and thank goodness for joe lieberman. he deserves a lot of credit for this. >> so why, alex, is it so hard for senate republicans to do this? >> because some think it's going to weaken the armed forces and because it's a social issue. the base of the republican party thinks that it's an opening for gay rights. however, republicans have hidden behind a wall for a long time and that wall is, well, we will defer to the military. thinking that will never happen. guess what, the wall has gotten so short now that they can't hide behind it any longer and actually now it's an economic agenda, and president obama can do this now and pay no political price i think. so i think you're going to see this go through. >> i certainly believe that the economic conditions of this country, over the past four years, has contributed to this vote that's actually going to take place. because when you -- i think back to howard dean talking about gays, god, and guns, not necessarily in that order, that was a dominating issue for so many people in

ok and it's quite interesting here with joe lieberman has to say he doesn't want to and to deal with any of the lead the information that are in those cables ok it all and i mean it's complete you know i see that is complete denial ok almost to the point of saying ok it's all true but ok because that's what it looks like to me is that what it looks like to you because there seems to be very little coming out of the state department of the u.s. about the authenticity of it actually even don't really doubt the authenticity that they i mean because he said well on that i won't talk about that issue i want talk about that issue so i mean it this is kind of a state of denial we just have to make sure we can't we can't have whistleblowers that's the most important thing protect national security irrespective of content. well whether it's national security or national embarrassment for the matter but yes this is a classic response that you shoot the messenger and you don't address the message i mean i certainly it threw that in there with a bang is back in the one thousand nine hundred k. a

with us this hour senators joe lieberman and gene sheehan. >>> and health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius right here on the legal and budget challenges to health reform. >>> out on bail but not without words. >> this has been a very successful smear campaign so far, but i think it stays numbered and people are starting to wonder, is what is claimed really true and, if it is true, where is the evidence? >>> and the capitol hill christmas colbert style. >> some people out there hate this holiday. like senate majority leader harry reid, aka the albino ray sin w raison who stole christmas. >>> the tax cut is law. the drama on capitol hill is by no means over. the focus is turning back to the senate where lawmakers are debating s.t.a.r.t. today and will be coming in for a rare saturday session to take up don't ask, don't tell and dream act. democrats are scrambling after republicans outplayed them on the omnibus spending bill. news correspondent and nbc's capitol hill correspondent luke russert is joining her. we've got both sides of the hill covered. kelly, first to you. wha

. >>> who's quietly urging senator joe lieberman to run for a fifth term? >>> first, we'll go to bill karins with a check of the forecast. bill? >> i got new respect for commando joe. a new nickname. >> no. >>> let's talk about the forecast. a little surprise snow for our friends on long island. heard reports of three to four inches in nassau county. new york city got a dusting. sidewalks are icy. the roads have been salted. hopefully they're okay. it's a very cold morning out there. windchills are in the single digits today. we don't even get up to 30 in really any of the big cities. watch out for heavy lake-effect snow near buffalo. one of the big stories, what's happening in florida. it's 29 in orlando, the freezing line is all the way down to lake okeechobee, even miami at the 37. damage is being done to the oranges and the strawberries and the spinach crops this morning. you'll feel it in the markets in the weeks ahead. the rest of the country, look at the windchill currently. 10 in new york. minus 6 in chicago. this right now is the peak of the arctic

you mentioned a joe lieberman. joe lieberman is an interesting question. yes, we have anti-semiti in this country. it is not as overt as, for instance, is, pho -- islamophobia, but it is still there. joe lieberman is an orthodox jew, a verybservant jew. i think he did the right thing by talking about his faith, because it is so much a part of who he is. it could have cost him votes. on thether hand, an awful lot people saw him as being the devoutly religious person and that appealed to them, that the idea is that he is a man of god. we are all part of the aipac faith -- abrahamic faith -- i say "we,"that being the perception, is long, judaism, christianity did -- islam, judaism, christianity. if he had said he was an atheist, that would have heard a lot more than if he said he was jewish. host: 1 last culprit -- one last call. caller: i always identify myself as the truth all were of christ -- true follower of christ because i follow the word of god. when you say religion, there are so many definitions, but it is just the belief of one person, and that one

now, democratic leaders joe lieberman and republican leader susan collins say they're confident they have 60 votes needed for repeal. >> and a bill that would affect hundreds of thousand of young illegal immigrants failed to pass the senate this afternoon. the dream act would provide a path to citizenship to young illegal immigrants in college or serving in the military. and democrats say they're going try again, next week. >> a transgender woman says she receive aid hate-filled letter from a dmv clerk has taken a step towards suing the agency. and saying that letter arrived four days after applying for a driver's license. and and this is for violating civil rights, claiming there is a history of harassing dmv customers and he shared her personal information with a fundamentalist church group. a spokesman said employees are prohibited from contacting customers about nonbusiness matters. >> and in southern california tonight a house packed to the gills with explosives is no longer a danger, filled with so much explosives that authorities decided safest thing to do is burn the place to

independent democrat joe lieberman of connecticut-- he's a co-sponsor of repeal legislation. and republican saxby chambliss of georgia, who opposes it. gentlemen, welcome. senator lieberman, is it basically a civil rights issue for you? >> it's a civil rights issue, but it's also a national security issue. i mean, it's a civil rights issue because we make a basic promise to this country that you're going to be judged not by who you are-- your race, your gender, religion, et cetera, or sexual orientation-- but how you do the job. and "don't ask, don't tell" has resulted in 14,000 people in our military being tossed out over the last 17 years, not because they were inadequate soldiers, not because they violated the military code of conduct, but simply because of their sexual orientation. that's wrong. and as a matter of civil rights, it ought to be changed. but i can tell you that if i felt that changing this policy would compromise our national security in any way, i wouldn't be for it. in fact, when you think about it tossing out 14,000 people willing to put their lives on the

. >>> yesterday, joe lieberman had a news conference. he is very optimistic for supporters of the repeal. if they are successful, it could be the last hurdle in a long road toward repeal. yesterday, he said he is looking for republicans to push them over the top to get them what they need. >>> i continue to believe that we are going to end up with more support on the republican side than the four that we have talked about. let's say for now i am confident we have more than 60 votes. >> reporter: democrats have been 57 of their own who will support the repeal. they need help from republicans to get the 60. there are four people they are looking at who have said publicly they would support repeal. those four are susan collins of maine. scott brown of massachusetts, lisa murkowski of alaska and olympia snowe also of maine. if those republicans join democrats, they will have the 60 and overcome the last hurdle and basically one more final vote that takes a simple majority to push that over the edge. a lot of things on the agenda. the votes s

this is just days after amazon public lakes website from servers after political pressure from joe lieberman the chairman of the senate homeland's security. will u.s. officials are adamantly deny any efforts to take on the website. their divinely told any other companies to take down the what he likes website. >> over the past 24 hours we've seen a steady stream of clouds and moisture and northern california including the bay area. not a whole lot of rain has resulted from the spirited dry out there right now household the rain will evaporate before it's the crown. another storm sitting to the north will merge with the moisture bring his heavier rain this weekend. let's take a look now at future cast for tomorrow morning. tron it looks like a rather impressive rainfall up in the north bay. however it will still be fairly drought there tomorrow morning so really not going to see a lot of rain hit the ground even the showing rain pushing through the love o'clock hour. in to the evening that's when this will change. starting about 7:00 saturday evening heavier rainfall cells pushing for the nor

senator joe lieberman says he has confidence that he has the votes to end the debate and move guard oninal vote. they hope to get 66 final votes in the senate and perhaps two to four republicans. >>> along with holiday shopping comes holiday shipping. how careful are they with your packages? the shippers were put to the test, and nbc bay area's vic vickinguyen has the results. >> reporter: popular mechanics put the shippers to the test. they worked with national instruments to create a sensor, then sent a package on 12 trips each on ups, fedex and the united states postal service. senior ed tore of popular mechanics. >> they put together a small box that could measure whenever a package is jostled or turned upside down. >> the post office was the more kind shipper. next was ups. >> fedex turned out to be the highest number of drops. they had around three drops of over 2.5 feet per trip. >> they told us that delivery care is extremely important. they have their own testing to see that shark brought his own violation, but added that they're rated the best in customer satisfaction. ironic

hackers have targeted sara palin, paypal, joe lieberman, swedish prosecutors and a swiss bank. facebook and twitter have both suspend add kts that appear to be organizing attacks. san francisco electronics frontier foundation is concern btd about a backlash. >> we think freedom of speech is a core american value this, is something to protect. the backlash is going to result in the introduction of law that's will likely end up having a tremendously bad affect on speech. >> and the berkeley city council is considering a resolution to clearing army private bradley manning a hero calling for his release in custody. he is expecting of providing wiki leak was the document autos a san jose flight diverted to new mexico after a passenger tried to force his way off the plane. continental airlines flight bound for houston, texas. the pilot land so the man could be taken off the aircraft. passengers say he tried to open an exit door in flight. he's been identified as a mexican national. fbi and immigration met the plane in z.took him into custody. after arrest the plane continued on to ho

senator joe lieberman co-introduced a stand-alone bill ending the policy. the house vote could happen tomorrow. the end of the year congressional schedule is tight, but supporters say the stand-alone measure is gaining support. if it is signed into law, the pentagon would begin the implementation process immediately. >>> we'll be right back with the newest bay area california hall ofo e f california hall ofame. f >>> the red carpet is relied out in sacramento tonight. and in less than an hour the governor will pay tribute to the new unductees to california's hall of fame. there are 14 in all, including barbra streisand and betty white. and facebook founder mark zuckerberg. what a year it has been for him. it kicks off at the california museum in sacramento. >>> tonight on "nbc nightly news," how classic holiday tunes are turning unknowns into celebrities.

. >> reporter: a thrilled senator joe lieberman called it the best day in his senate career. >> we're still able to come together in a bipartisan way to right a wrong and do something that's in the best interest of our country. >> reporter: there is still one more step that could take several months for this to really be done. this law today says that the president, the secretary of defense and the chairman of the joint chiefs must certify that the military has taken all the steps internally to be ready to implement this change. lester? >> kelly o'donnell, thanks. tonight, defense secretary robert gates is applauding today's vote and in a statement said as soon as the president signs the bill, the pentagon will begin planning for the change. meantime, those who have served under the existing ban are reflecting on what those changes mean for them. nbc's kevin tibbles reports. >> reporter: retired u.s. navy captain joan dara and her partner lynn kennedy were married last night. as they prepare to celebrate at a party this evening, they took time out to watch the senate vote. >> there wi

we can leaks and number of senators including the chairman of the homeland security committee joe lieberman were quick to pat those companies on the back for crying out for cash to leak he leaves. and help asking if u.s. officials are so down on we kill leaks why aren't they after the week at least parking a paper. one other incredible thing about the prosecution is that so many people are falsely reporting that we could leaks has dumped two hundred fifty thousand documents that's not true at all they only were putting stuff up on their web page when you go to the new york times or der spiegel. or the guardian we're putting up or very useful to the united states government in some ways there is a severe slanting in the output that is the new york times got to go through as many document as it possibly could in the several weeks or several months given to it by we keep leaks to go through these documents and pick and choose those documents that were most conducive towards the new york times there's a lot of mystery surrounding wiki leaks but what's on the surface now are examples of double s

we are going to hear from joe lieberman, who has been terrific in this regard. i also have to acknowledge chairman carl levin. carl levin advocates -- carl levin is the reason we had the don't ask, don't tell debate in the armed services committee. everyone knows if he had not done that, we would not be here today. joe lieberman, i appreciate his advocacy in helping bring the few republicans in. i appreciate those few republicans. we could not have done it without them. they are brave in doing so with the pressure they have received on these issues. we are going to hear from the president of the human rights campaign. aubrey is the executive director of the services member's legal defense fund. we are going to hear from a discharged airforce member. >> i do not have much to add except thank you for your leadership. without your commitment to get don't ask, don't tell repealed, this would not have happened today. you realized we had the votes. you said this was too important. you thought culture and brought it to a vote. i also want to join you in thanking my cha

republican susan collins of maine and joe lieberman of connecticut plan to introduce a stand alone murtha would dump the policy. >>> it is a dream deferred for illegal immigrants who came here as children and are now trying to become u.s. citizens. the senate decided to put off making a decision on the sit section ship bill known as the dream act. democrats plan to put it up for a vote that would likely doom it but, instead, they voted for a delay that would allow the senate to take up an amended version of the bill that passed on wednesday. >>> well a high school wrestler is facing criminal charges tonight for performling a pretty common move during a wrestling match. freshman claims that he was sexually assaulted during that move. the case went to court today. joe vasquez on what the move is and why the freshman's parents say it went too far. >> by just squatting and getting a little leverage there then i can do it. >> reporter: wrestling coach gene deer mode has been teaching wrestlers for 25 years, he says a wrestling move called a butt drag is a common one used to get an opponent off

you mentioned a joe lieberman. joe lieberman is an interesting question. yes, we have anti-semitism in this country. it is not as overt as, for instance, is, pho -- islamophobia, but it is still there. joe lieberman is an orthodox jew, a very observant jew. i think he did the right thing by talking about his faith, because it is so much a part of who he is. it could have cost him votes. on the other hand, an awful lot people saw him as being the devoutly religious person and that appealed to them, that the idea is that he is a man of god. we are all part of the aipac faith -- abrahamic faith -- i say "we,"that being the perception, is long, judaism, christianity did -- islam, judaism, christianity. if he had said he was an atheist, that would have heard a lot more than if he said he was jewish. host: 1 last culprit -- one last call. caller: i always identify myself as the truth all were of christ -- true follower of christ because i follow the word of god. when you say religion, there are so many definitions, but it is just the belief of one person, and th

donation to the klan a number of senators including the chairman of the homeland security committee joe lieberman were quick to pat those companies on the back for cutting off cash to weak elites but americans cracked down on the organization that appears to be fighting for transparency and freedom of speech leaves many asking what happens to american values of freedom of expression these are very difficult things for us to face as americans this is not what we believe in our country we believe it's a country that respects the markers you lot are going to be shown that we're the opposite is not easy but us politicians do not shy away from flashing their democratic values when rooting for chinese fighter for freedoms he won the nobel peace prize so there you see the current standards of western of the so-called international community. is targeted for having released information knowing what what you should be doing and you have a case where the same people will be pushing for a candidate which is a dissident within the people's republic of china so they are playing double standards with that rega

is fighting for human rights in american values joe lieberman said that in one nine hundred ninety nine i wonder if you would stick by those words today go ahead make sure. well he might do because some people are quite brazen about it and think that independent kosovo is in the interest of the united states but you're quite right many of those things were known at the time and many other things have become worse but we have to go back right to the beginning namely to that intervention by nato effectively the bombing of the whole of serbia and then occupation of kosovo something very unusual is taken place there which has been ignored and it is something that probably indicts not just mr touchy and that caylee it indicts the united states and had the dates and they took because for nato to move in because they've asked not only for withdrawal of the yugoslav army at the time they've insisted on the withdrawal of the police and all the legal authorities in place in kosovo at the time so he would simply have a program a lawless province at that stage with their police from anywhere with a

(applause) i want to thank joe lieberman (applause) and susan collins (applause), and i think carl levin's is still working (laughter) but no one had hii want to mention him (applause) i am so proud of susan davis (applause), (cheering). a guy you might know marty frank (applause) they kept up the fight in the house and i have to a knowledge patrick murphy (inaudible) (cheering) (applause). i also wanted commend all military leaders. ending don't ask don't tell what the topic in my first meeting with secretary gates at rumble mullin and joint chiefs (applause) we talked about how to amend this policy. we talked about how success in passing in implementing the change depended on working closely with the pentagon that's what we did. two years later am confident history will remember well. the courage, vision, of secretary gates of (applause). of (applause) of admiral who spoke from our heart (cheering) and said he what he believed was right (applause). car right the joint chiefs and deputy secretary william lyon who his here (applause) the authors of the review who did an outstanding and a (