Longmont Citzens for Justice and Democracy

Longmont's Bill of Rights Defense Committee

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Benjamin Franklin, 1759

 
 
AS of the [17th of January, 2003 26]
[4th of Febraury, 2003 30]
[28th of February, 2003, 51]
[7th of March, 2003, 63]
[16th of April,2003] 87
[24th of April, 2003] 92
7th of May, 2003 103 cities and 1 state have passed resolutions to "support repeal of parts of the USA PATRIOT Act, Homeland Security Act, and Executive Orders that infringe on Constitutional rights." We would like to add Longmont to the List and are working on a proposal for city council.

Media

An editorial in the April 16, 2003 Times-Call against Patriot Act II!

An OP ED response by David Rick to Julia Pirnacks's article

A letter to the editor response by Keith Langley to Julia Pirnacks's article

Events

We're did a MARCH about the Patriot Act March 15th and about 55 people came! We marched from 6th and Main to the library where we were entertained by a performance by the Free Range Theatre company followed by an orderly "assembly line" checkout of "subversive books" by people like Molly Ivins, Michael Moore and Howard Zinn and on topics like explosives and nuclear reactors. Thanks to the Longmont Public Library for not simply letting us but helping us do this.

Here's what the Daily Camera had to say.

There will be a Library talk March 17th.

Here's the link to city council's website

The web site http://www.bordc.org/ has more information on what other cities have done.

Here is our revised resolution, which has been endorsed by Mary Keenan, Boulder County District Attorney.

Here's what the Associated Press had to say about the issue: Some of the fundamental changes to Americans' legal rights by the Bush administration and the USA Patriot Act following the terror attacks:

FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION:

Government may monitor religious and political institutions without suspecting criminal activity to assist terror investigation.

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION:

Government has closed once-public immigration hearings, has secretly detained hundreds of people without charges, and has encouraged bureaucrats to resist public records requests.

FREEDOM OF SPEECH:

Government may prosecute librarians or keepers of any other records if they tell anyone that the government subpoenaed information related to a terror investigation.

RIGHT TO LEGAL REPRESENTATION:

Government may monitor federal prison jailhouse conversations between attorneys and clients, and deny lawyers to Americans accused of crimes.

FREEDOM FROM UNREASONABLE SEARCHES:

Government may search and seize Americans' papers and effects without probable cause to assist terror investigation.

RIGHT TO A SPEEDY AND PUBLIC TRIAL:

Government may jail Americans indefinitely without a trial.

RIGHT TO LIBERTY:

Americans may be jailed without being charged or being able to confront witnesses against them.

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Credits: Items from an Associated Press release obtained from Bill of Rights Defense Committee
Web Design: Pierre Malraison