On the September 3 edition of Off The Hook, we spoke about John Ashcroft's campaign to defend the USA PATRIOT act. It seems that Attorney General Ashcroft is travelling around the country to talk about the US Goverment's efforts to fight terrorism and reduce its citizens civil liberties.

While the recently-released tour schedule clearly states that Mr. Ashcroft's talks are open only to selected law enforcement personnel and some media, the Bill of Rights Defense Committee is inviting the public to attend the talks and protest outside. The talks will be held in Buffalo and in New Castle, New Hampshire on Monday, September 8th, and in Boston and New York City on Tuesday, September 9th. At all four talks, protestors will be calling attention to the PATRIOT Act's effects on civil liberties, and we encourage any 2600 reader who can attend to do so.

In addition to these closed-door events, the United States Attorney's Offices across the nation are supposedly holding "town-hall" style meetings where the PATRIOT act will be discussed. As reported on Off The Hook, the Philadelphia-area meeting was held in a difficult-to-reach suburb, was announced only the day before, permitted no audience interaction, and featured a speaker who literally had his back to the public for the entire speech. Nonetheless, we encourage readers to attempt to contact the US Attorneys Offices in their local area for information about local meetings. Our own attempts have been met with rudeness and unreturned calls, but we will post any information which readers email us. The US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York in New York City is at (212) 637-2200, and a listing of offices nationwide is also available. Good luck.