Counter-intuitive proposition of the day: Anyone who considers himself a “deficit hawk” or “fiscal conservative” and gets worked up over earmarks is either clueless or disingenuous. We’re hearing a lot lately about earmarks – DC-speak for pork-barrel spending. Whether it’s the “stimulus” bill signed into law last month, or the $410 billion spending bill that’s supposed to tide over Uncle Sam for the rest of fiscal '09, it seems we can’t get away from them. Nor can we get away from complaints about some of the more ludicrous-sounding pet projects for individual lawmakers – like research into malodorous hogs. In … Continue reading Earmarks: Much Ado About Nothing