"I've been receiving hate mail from all over the world," said Palo Alto Councilwoman Judy Kleinberg, who headed the committee that drafted the rules encouraging more politeness. "I've been called a Nazi."

"I've been told I need to be in a straight jacket with a bag over my head."

The city council in the Silicon Valley town was hoping to improve civility in the town's political debates and make it less intimidating for the public to address the group.

"Do not use body language or other nonverbal methods of expression, disagreement or disgust," one of the proposed conduct rules reads.

"People feel we were treading on the First Amendment and we aren't," Kleinberg said in an interview. "There is no ban, we are not outlawing any expression."

"We were considering a way to promote more open and free debate by discouraging, and that's a pretty important word, discouraging, not prohibiting, intimidating body expressions."