I've always wondered why the big rush to pass the pro-torture detainee bill.

"Time is of the essence," said Rep. Tom Cole (news, bio, voting record), R-Okla. "We must move this legislation to the president's desk."

But why? After all, habeas corpus has been part of our common law tradition for almost a millenium, since the Magna Carta; and the principle of judicial review is part of our Constitutional system of checks and balances.

And this legislation destroys habeas corpus and the Constitution.

Surely not even the Republicans would throw these two great principles away without some serious thought? Oh, wait. I've got Unka Karl on the other line:

Republicans [are] focusing on passing a bill that would allow Bush to put the nation's most dangerous terror suspects on trial this fall — just as voters head to the polls.

Show trials in October! What a surprise!

(Of course, we can't really know they're dangerous until they've been tried, can we? Thanks for the balanced coverage, AP.)

NOTE Of course, until we have a President who accepts the rule of law--I should really say, until we have a President instead of a dictator, this is all just so much kabuki, isn't it?