but senator lieberman's been working this issue hard. i'm impressed senator snowe has come out in favor of it. president obama i know called her last week and personally lobbied her on this, so with her addition, the don't ask, don't tell repeal lost by three the last time around. so she comes around, so now the supporters only need two more. well, lisa murkowski, the senator from alaska, republican, says she supports repeal. scott browne, senator from massachusetts, republican, he supports repeal. blanche lincoln, still senator from arkansas, she supports repeal but was at the dentist. >> she was at the dentist last time. >> maybe even joe manchin. so you just need two out of those four. it's getting awfully close. so forgive me for being a little optimistic. >> what do you think of the brouhaha over people's schedules. a week until christmas, i'm working today, you're working today, most of the country is working today. firefighters, policemen, people with important jobs work on christmas day, work on christmas eve. are senators' compl

you mentioned, maybe if we lieberman -- >> not joe. i want to us, what should americans know about foreign minister lieberman? we do not know him well. and what should israelis know about sarah palin? is she jewish? martin, you go first. >>> it is very interesting because maybe lieberman is the son of the future in many ways. it starts with the numbers and i do not want to bother lieberman with numbers, or get into it, but radically, israel is changing rapidly. patella about it 20 -- >> batelle as about it. >> 20% of the population is armed. every year it becomes harder to live peacefully with both. the old orthodox was about 10% of the population and now they are 20%. it happen rapidly. there is something they share, something very important. it is the alienation from the legacy of liberals and democrats is real. they do not feel at home in this society. it may be hard to explain. there was a famous speech where he endorsed a two-state and it killed at once the left and right. we fought over territory. and everybody knows if a two- st

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

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 line to protect our security and freedom-- including a lot of people who have specialized skills-- that was bad for our military and think abo

i don't know what standard you put senator lieberman as a liberal. i don't know what standards you-- good point. good point. right, and hillary, sometimes-- although, i think she's wonderful; i supported her; í helped her become a senator; i think she's mostly good-- i just think she doesn't know any better in this case. i think that she's made some mistakes, and everyone does. and tipper gore, in fairness, that was a late-'80s position that they backed off of later, but to this core question-- i wouldn't consider any of those people liberals, as a matter of fact. i mean, hillary's got some bones in her and some--but-- you also wouldn't put them in jesse helms' territory. no, no, that's right. my point is, these aren't people with a history of repression. that's right, not a history. so you sort of have to step back and say, you know, maybe something deep inside these folks really bothers them about the music, and what do you think it is? you know, it's just, like, difficult. it's cultural-- what it is, and so it's not racist. it's cultural, but it,

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

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

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

lieberman: i thank the chair. mr. chairman, i want to thank chairman levin, senator udall and senator webb for their informed and informative remarks in support of the motion to concur with the house in regard to repealing the policy that has come to be known as don't ask, don't tell. mr. president, i think that in considering this matter today, we have an opportunity not just to right a wrong, not just to honor the service of a group of american patriots who happen to be gay and lesbian, not just to make our military more effective, but to advance the values that the founders of our country articulated in our original american documents. and i just want to talk very briefly about that because it's important to set what we're doing here in the context of history. from the beginning, america has been a different nation. we did not define ourselves based on our borders. our founders defined america based on our values, and none stated more powerfully than those words in the opening paragraph of the declaring of inde

let me thank senator lieberman for his extraordinary leadership. he has been steadfast in his determination to repeal this unjust law. and without his persistence we would not be standing here today. i also want to thank senator udall and all of those who have worked so hard. but i particularly want to thank my republican colleagues who voted in paper of repealing "don't ask, don't tell." it was a difficult vote for many of them, but in the end, they conclude as i have concluded that we should welcome the service of any qualified individual who is willing to put on the uniform of this country, fight for us in war zones such as afghanistan and iraq and put freedom on the line for us. so i want to thank all of the gay men and women that are fighting for us today in afghanistan and in iraq. we honor your service and now we can do so openly. this is indeed a historic day and i am just delighted with the strong bipartisan vote. >> thanks, susan. >> senator mark udall has been a stalwart and steadfast partner in this. >> thank you, senator lieberman, tha

senator joe lieberman is senior member of the arms committee. senator lieberman, great to see you.t are the chances tomorrow? >> right now i would say the chances are really good. the moment for this has come. i mean, last week they thought the cause was lost, but we came up with the idea of a stand alone bill. our colleagues in the house adopted it, and we've got four republicans out publicly for a repeal of don't ask, don't tell. i think we're going to get one or two or three other republicans tomorrow. you never know until the roll is called and the votes are cast. i think we're on the verge of a historic breakthrough which will not only be very good for our already great military but will be the right thing to do. >> what are you going to say the your friend john mccain, is there any chance you can persuade him? >> i doubt it. i think john is unpersuadable on this one. i'm just going to tell him that, you know, he fought the good fight for something he was against, and we got more than enough votes to pass this, including a number of his republican colleagues. so let's get it d

senator joseph lieberman and other lawmakers have unveiled legislation that would make it illegal for anyone to publish the name of a u.s. intelligence source. the bill was introduced thursday and comes after the wikileaks website published classified u.s. diplomatic documents. the lawmakers say wikileaks' actions have threatened the safety of those working in u.s. undercover operations. in a statement, lieberman said "wikileaks' move is the latest example of how the illegal release of classified information can jeopardize the security interests of the u.s. and its allies." he also said the legislation will make anyone who puts sources of information at risk criminally accountable. >>> u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton has been busy contacting foreign leaders and expressing regrets over the wikileaks document release scandal. u.s. assistant secretary of state philip crowley told reporters on thursday that clinton has been in contact with pakistani president asif ali zardari and argentina president cristina fernandez de kirchner to express regret over the issue. she has so far ca

lieberman: i thank the chair. mr. chairman, i want to thank chairman levin, senator udall and senator webb for their informed and informative remarks in support of the motion to concur with the house in regard to repealing the policy that has come to be known as don't ask, don't tell. mr. president, i think that in considering this matter today, we have an opportunity not just to right a wrong, not just to honor the service of a group of american patriots who happen to be gay and lesbian, not just to make our military more effective, but to advance the values that the founders of our country articulated in our original american documents. and i just want to talk very briefly about that because it's important to set what we're doing here in the context of history. from the beginning, america has been a different nation. we did not define ourselves based on our borders. our founders defined america based on our values, and none stated more powerfully than those words in the opening paragraph of the declaring of inde

>> i'm imagining her and lieberman on their way there.ou should know about is she's attractive and one of the things a book publisher discovered is it's good to offend liberals and they buy the book. she's really good at that, and therefore she is one to follow especially those with high school education degrees, not so much with college education degrees. she was in the media, and she's not cared by the government. she herself, is a big media figure, but so many people have come up to her say you should be president. you see the seduction process happening. she's thinking about it. she won't be the republican nominee. most think she's not qualified to be president, but the republicans have changed their primary process to stretch it out. it will be hard for someone who is against the establishment to win. they make it like a political process. she will not be the republican nominee. mike pence is more than likely to be than her. she doesn't have the rigor to understand that process. the movement she's the figure head of is here to stay.

that is what i would say. >> joining me is senator joe lieberman.cain is a friend of yours. how do you think he will react to his daughter's interview with lawrence? >> i'm not going to touch that. there is a spirit holding in the mccain family. megan has her own mind. she is a very devoted daughter to john. >> when we are asking the don't ask, don't tell policy, what makes you think you have if votes to get it passed through the senate. >> i feel very good we have the votes. we have 57 out of 58 democrats. we now have as of today four republicans at least. susan collins, lisa murkowski, scott brown and olympia snowe. that is 61 votes. you only need 60 to stop a filibuster. >> what do you make of the people who say there might not be enough time. shouldn't this be a priority? >> this must be a priority. this is an injustice. it is un-american to tell people who want to serve our country, we need them in the military to tell them no you can't do it because you are gay or lesbian. that is note the american way. the reality is that we've got the votes.

>> i'm imagining her and lieberman on their way there. the first thing you should know about is she's attractive and one of the things a book publisher discovered is it's good to offend liberals and they buy the book. she's really good at that, and therefore she is one to follow especially those with high school education degrees, not so much with college education degrees. she was in the media, and she's not cared by the government. she herself, is a big media figure, but so many people have come up to her say you should be president. you see the seduction process happening. she's thinking about it. she won't be the republican nominee. most think she's not qualified to be president, but the republicans have changed their primary process to stretch it out. it will be hard for someone who is against the establishment to win. they make it like a political process. she will not be the republican nominee. mike pence is more than likely to be than her. she doesn't have the rigor to understand that process. the movement she's the figure head of

lieberman didn't really want to go. now everybody is courting -- it's a closely divided senate, everybody, both sides, courting joe lieberman, trying to make nice. he's loving it. democrats reaching out, saying he's welcome to rejoin the party. they hope he will in 2012. republicans, even john cornyn, who heads the republican senate committee, said he's had friendly banter with lieberman. >> wow. this is fascinating because his approval rating in the state of connecticut -- i'm rounding up here -- is three. i'm just trying to figure out why either party would want joe lieberman. i'm not knocking him -- >> what -- >> no, he's -- his approval rate regula ings are low. >> it's a closely divided senate. they want him for every vote. he's loving the role of being in the middle. >> even jim dement said, "we'd love to have him," of joe lieberman. >> that's good. >> thank you very much. we'll talk to you later. >> see you in a couple of hours. >>> coming up, an unscheduled monday night doubleheader. first the vikings lose their

lieberman: mr. president, if i may, i would say that of the time we have on this side, we yield five minutes to the senator from virginia. and i thank him for coming over to speak. mr. webb: i thank the senator. i rise in support of the notion that we need to make adjustments to this policy, this don't ask, don't tell policy. i say that after many years of thought and consideration and also in light of the analysis that has been provided by the department of defense to the armed services committee on which i sit. and i would say to my friend from south carolina, i take the points that he has made about the concerns and small unit cohesion and has gone into the formula that i have used myself in order to come to this conclusion. we need to, first of all, understand what this is and what it is not. the question is not whether there should be gays and lesbians in the military. they are already there. according to general hamm, who conducted this extensive study, approximately the same percentage of the

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

daniel lieberman from george washington university hospital. thanks for joining us tonight. >> thank you for having me. >> let's start with the obvious question a lot of parents out there want to know. what is salvia besides being a leafy plant? >> salvia is a halluncinogenic herb. its full name indicates originally it was used in religious rituals in order to produce an out of body experience and essentially from a medical point of view it is a very powerful halluncinogenic drug. >> so are the effects similar to say marijuana? >> no, they're not. they're much more similar to things like lsd or pcp. there was, in fact, a study done at johns hopkins university where they gave salvia to experienced hallucinogen users, people who had experience with things like lsd and asked them how would you rate this. these experienced users said that it was the most powerful hallucinogen they had ever taken. >> do these effects last as long as say lsd or pcp? >> they peak within about 2 1/2 minutes and are largely gone within 20 minutes, whereas other drugs ca

senator lieberman's staff has been absolutely phenomenal. senator udall's staff has been absolutely phenomenal and no one would know that because they're not out there talking on camera. but they're the unsung heroes. >> i hope we set some precedent there. explain why if this doesn't come together for some reason and i would -- if i was going to bet on why it wouldn't, some arcain senate procedural quirk that none of us even know about right now, why is it so important it happen now? >> well, i think we're sort of at a critical point right now where we have the pentagon report out saying that here's the road map, it can be done, we have a unique legislative situation set up for next year where, you know, of course the house is under the control of one party, the senate is under control of another and the white house is still in the hands of president obama, but the party that's going to control the house -- and we're of course nonpartisan, but we look at the facts on the ground with respect to this issue, and the party that's going to contro

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

. >>> 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

it will get out of the house today. >> senator lieberman says he has the votes to pass his stand-alone measure. we are looking for representative murphy. i got to ask you about the other big issue that congress has to wrangle with, the house of representatives, congressman mcdermott, is especially opposed to the tax cut deal that the president has made with republicans. i should mention the senate has not yet scheduled a vote on this tax cut deal. harry reid and mitch mcconnell are negotiating now some of the detail about whether there's amendments to the bill, but it's expected to pass what will happen for democrats in the house? >> this is not a partisan issue. this is an issue of how you view the economics of this country. i got up this morning and opened up the "usa today," there's an op-ed from mitt romney saying this is a terrible deal. his reason for thinking it's a bad deal is much different than my own proposal or my own reasons why. so i think it's not clear whether this bill is actually going to pass in this congress. i am sure it will pass as soon as the republicans are in

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

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

. >> i listened to that debate, particularly the debate on wednesday, and heard simply lieberman, senator mccain, speaking to senator corker, to clarify the charges that were made. the ambiguity in the preamble is what they focused on, contrary to what you said. >> this is a political achievements of great significance. the president's position, he prevailed over the number one and number two republicans in the senate. lieutenant general frank klotz, in charge of the global strike command, which has two-thirds of our nuclear capacity, said that this ought gives us the ability to verify each other's arsenal. >> on start, any republican votes surprise you? >> several of them, not the least of them was john thune, tall, handsome south dakota and. he was making sounds of running for president in 2012. lisa murkowski, they reelected republican from alaska, is an independent agent all of a sudden. don't ask, don't tell, start -- the republican leadership, if you recall, cut her loose. she apparently has a long memory. >> and she has cut them loose. >> she voted for all of these things. >> let m

nor lieberman told me yesterday he had 61 votes to repeal the don't ask don't tell policy leaving him one vote to spare. ron wyden is expected back to work. he should be recovered as early refuge at his friend's estate in london. he's planning his legal defense in sweden where he's accused of sex crimes. he addressed those allegations this morning on the "today" show. >> this has been a very successful smear campaign so far. but i think it's -- its days are numbered and people are starting to wonder is what is claimed really true and, if it is true, where is the evidence, why has no evidence been provided, even to me and my defense attorneys. >> u.s. investigators are also trying to determine whether assange or someone else at wikileaks provided army private bradley manning with the software he allegedly used to obtain classified data. nbc's jenny is joining me live now from london with more on that. where do we stand in the legal proceedings against assange? >> well, at the moment we're waiting for the extradition hearing to begin. that's not set until at least february, i believe. a

let me thank senator lieberman for his extraordinary leadership. he has been steadfast in his determination to repeal this unjust law. and without his persistence we would not be standing here today. i also want to thank senator udall and all of those who have worked so hard. but i particularly want to thank my republican colleagues who voted in paper of repealing "don't ask, don't tell." it was a difficult vote for many of them, but in the end, they conclude as i have concluded that we should welcome the service of any qualified individual who is willing to put on the uniform of this country, fight for us in war zones such as afghanistan and iraq and put freedom on the line for us. so i want to thank all of the gay men and women that are fighting for us today in afghanistan and in iraq. we honor your service and now we can do so openly. this is indeed a historic day and i am just delighted with the strong bipartisan vote. >> thanks, susan. >> senator mark udall has been a stalwart and steadfast partner in this. >> thank you, senator lieberman, tha

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

senator lieberman thank you, mr. chairman. i say to senator mccain, i agree our priority is restoring economic growth and jobs in our country. but we can do both. we've got the time if we have the will to work across party lines to both do the things best for our economy coming and in my opinion that means of raising anybody's taxes for the economy is as weak as the numbers came out today said. but we've also got the underlining national defense authorization act, which as the witness is no, contains within it a series of a large number of authorizations. they are really important to the troops come to the military, and particularly to the troops in combat. and if we don't pass that, they are not going to be supported in the way that deserved to be supportive. so i really hope that we can come together and use our time wisely to get to meet all of our priorities. senator wicker asked earlier why are we here doing this in combat? and i think senator levin gave one answer. we have been at this for quite a while freely, but we ar

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 lieberman. >> thank you to all of you for your testimony. you are obviously the leaders of the uniform of the three of the united states of america. i think this morning you've represented the best values of the u.s. military and have shown a slight the armed forces of the united states remain in my opinion the one central institution of our country that continues to burn the respect and trust of the american people, and i see that specifically here you'll know my position. i am for the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell." but you have come before us and stated your opinions, some have a support of repeal, some of kirsanow, leader. in the end of each of you, regardless of your position have said you will not only follow the judgment of the congress, you will begin work -- make it work and that is a powerful statement. general amos, you have spoken with the most concern about repeal, but i found your words very moving and to set could we implement repeal at this time and the answer is yes despite the challenges of briefly outlined above the end

. >> 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

in fact, it led an editorial writer for the british study, his name is jeffrey lieberman, a researcher in the trial, and he said the claims of superiority were greatly exaggerated, of the new drug. the aggressive marketing of these drugs may have contributed to this enhance perception of effectiveness in the absence of information. so apparently they haven't done their test to show this new drug was an improvement over what existed. there is very little rearch in this country of com parityive effectiveness. and that is looking at a new drug, comparing it in what we call a head-to-head trial to see whether the drug offers an improvement. when the fda aproves a drug for marketing, a new drug, what the manufacturer has to establish is that the new drug is better than nothing. >> are we talking about wikperdol? >> that's one of the drugs. this is a whole category but that's the one in the study. if you found this is true, the newer drug will claim it's an improvement or suggested an improvement, plus the impact of the advertising programs and the solicitation of doctors from brands? i don'

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.