Mountain View City Council discussion of Patriot Act

Tuesday, September 2, 8:00 pm (approximately)

The city's staff report includes an excellent analysis of the controversial law by Stanford Law professor Mariano-Florentino Cuellar. But the staff has refrained from making recommendations, instead listing six options:

1. Opposition to the Patriot Act
2. Support of the Patriot Act
3. Selective opposition
4. Selective support
5. No action
6. Send a letter of concern to Attorney General Ashcroft

See below for the position of the Mountain View Voices for Peace.

The Patriot Act discussion is Item 7.1 on the September 2 agenda, after two public hearings and a scheduled recess. We estimate that it will come up after 8:00 pm, but you can monitor the Council's progress on Mountain View Cable channel 26. If you don't have cable, we can call you at the start of the recess. Just e-mail us now at and let us know where we can call you on Tuesday night.

While it's enough to attend the Council meeting and wear an anti-Patriot Act sticker, we are urging members of the public to be prepared to explain to the Council, in three minutes or less, why they think the law is wrong and why Mountain View should resist it.

The Patriot Act and associated attacks on civil liberties may be targeted against Moslems and immigrants, but it has a chilling effect on the exercise of democratic rights by all people of the United States of America.