Patriot Act, not in my town, biatch

Cities Say No to the Patriot Act
As Bush launches a campaign to promote the Patriot Act and convince Congress to renew sections set to expire next year, hundreds of cities across the United States say enough is enough. By Kim Zetter, Wired.

Forget drug-free and nuclear-free zones. A growing grassroots movement seeks to make the United States a Patriot Act-free zone, one city at a time.

Or, at the very least, the people behind the movement hope to make their cities constitutional safe zones.


In the past two years, more than 300 cities and four states have passed resolutions calling on Congress to repeal or change parts of the USA Patriot Act that, activists say, violate constitutional rights such as free speech and freedom from unreasonable search and seizure.

Barring that, the resolutions declare that their communities will uphold the constitutional rights of their residents should federal law enforcement agents come knocking on the door of local authorities for assistance in tracking residents. This means local authorities will insist on complying with federal orders only in ways that do not violate constitutional rights.

List of towns, including Austin & Evanston (natch) and even Chicago....