JEERS ... to Rep. Dick Harwood, R-St.Maries. Bet you expected public officials to look after your rights. Not so. Harwood would rather defend multinational oil companies. Case in point: the megaloads. There's every reason to question unprecedented large, wide, tall and heavy rolling roadblocks of oil and mining equipment bottling up segments of U.S. Highway 12. But Harwood would block megaload skeptics from petitioning their government for redress of grievances. He'd do it by pricing them right out of the courtroom. Introduced Wednesday, Harwood's bill says anyone who sues to block a megaload must post a bond equal to 5 percent of the shipment's value. If a megaload is worth $10 million, for example, that's $500,000. And if the lawsuit fails, the Idaho Transportation Department gets a payday. Rather a big gamble just to exercise your legal rights, don't you think?/Marty Trillhaase, Lewiston Tribune. More here.

Question: Should private citizens have to post a bond of up to $500,000 to sue to stop ConocoPhillips megaloads?