When Bozeman city commissioners voted Tuesday night to oppose the Patriot Act, one citizen said, "Name a civil liberty that has been violated under this act. You can't."

Can that possibly be true? The answer isn't as straightforward as one might hope. Part of the problem is that the government won't tell us how the law is being enforced. That's the biggest problem with the Bush administration. It keeps wanting to know more about everything we do while telling us less about everything it does.

Meanwhile, City Lights Daily appears to be calling for a vote on a similar resolution in Billings. Fat chance. But I think the discussion would be one worth having. While I generally don't much like governing bodies passing resolutions outside their jurisdiction, the Patriot Act arguably crosses every jurisdictional line. We might as well get this town on the record about it, one way or another.