Illinois Senator Roland Burris has indicated that he will not vote for a bill if it doesn’t achieve “the goals of a public option.” Notice that he doesn’t specifically insist on a public option, merely the goals that he believes a public option would achieve. Still, it makes you wonder how many votes might be lost in this attempt to appease Joe Lieberman, and there lies the problem.

Since the bill is unlikely to receive any Republican votes, it needs unanimous Democratic support. Unfortunately for them, the goals and ideology of its members are anything but unanimous. You satisfy one, you alienate another. Because of that, passage of this bill will be in question until the final minute. Welcome to the two-party system.

You would think that progressives would vehemently oppose any changes to Medicare expansion. The scary part will happen if progressives are fine with the decision to drop the expansion. If they go along with the idea, then read carefully: The bill will be guaranteed to contain even bigger costs and give-aways.

The expansion of Medicare is an expansion of a single-payer system that is already in existence, which is the goal of progressives. In order for them to even consider giving up this option, moderates will have to make costly concessions. Keep your eyes open.

Hasan’s coworkers stated that it was rather apparent that he saw himself as a Muslim first, and an American second. Now, we find out that he was associated with a radical mosque leader who was associated with two 9/11 hijackers and had this to say:

“Nidal Hassan Did the Right Thing,” Awlaki calls Hasan a “hero” and a “man of conscience who could not bear living the contradiction of being a Muslim and serving in an army that is fighting against his own people.”

Oh, by the way, he also attempted to contact Al Qaeda and shouted, “Allahu Akbar,” during the shooting rampage, which means “god is great” in Arabic. This person was allowed to stay and advance in the U.S. military?

It appears that Hasan’s beliefs were known for months by U.S. intelligence, but the army wasn’t notified. Law enforcement has also refused a request to brief Congress. Fortunately, Senator Joe Lieberman is planning on initiating an investigation into how a radical Muslim extremist could spend so many years in the armed forces without being removed. Hasan isn’t the only one who needs to be punished. Several government officials were aware of the risk posed by this terrorist, yet they refused to act until it was too late.