Oh, Chuck:

Darpa, the Pentagon's far-out science division, is known for beyond-the-bleeding-edge research into thinking machines and shapeshifting drones. But over the last five years, the agency has also given $10 million to New York City's 140 year-old American Museum of Natural History... an iconic institution best known for its display of mummies and dinosaur bones. Every year, Congress orders federal agencies to spend billions of dollars in pet projects, or "earmarks"... rarely is the mismatch this pronounced. ... Since 2005, New York's Rep. Charlie Rangel has tacked $2 million dollars per year onto Darpa's budget for the Museum's Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics... Ordinarily, Darpa managers closely supervises its researchers, who have to meet strict performance goals - or risk getting their funding cut. Earmark recipients, on the other hand, are only accountable to their sponsoring lawmaker.

It's hard to understand how this hasn't come up on MSNBC, given the close attention the station pays to earmark abuse. And why hasn't The One targeted this absurdity, given his incisive understanding of DC budgetary dynamics:

Tapper calls this an "interesting point," which I assume is his polite euphemism for "moronic":

"I just want to make a little commentary about the media here, if you don't mind," Mr. Obama said this afternoon... "When we find $17 billion worth of cuts in programs, what do the same folks say? ... 'That's not significant. That's not important.' Well, you can't have it both ways... If those earmarks were important, then this money is important, too."

Imagine you're $10,000 in debt and your grand plan for reducing the load is to make one $50 payment. Now imagine that a bank owes you $10,000 and the teller only pays out $9,950 because he decided to pocket $50 of it for himself. That's the difference, essentially, between budget cuts and earmarks. Earmarks are basically congressional bribes to fundraisers in their home districts.

Even more importantly: is there any punchline that links this nonsense to Rangel's shameless tax evasion? Tough to say, tough to say.

References:
* Rangel Steers Darpa Millions to Natural History Museum [Danger Room]
* MSNBC Notices Earmark Hypocrisy... of Republicans [Ace]
* Obama whines: How come 1% in earmarks is a lot but 1% in budget cuts isn't? [Hot Air]
* Awesome: GOP congressman introduces "the Rangel rule" [Hot Air]

Previously:
* Great News: Global Economy In Full Meltdown, Obama Transition Team Panicking
* WH: Stimulus "Created" 150,000 Jobs. Or Maybe Just "Saved" Them. Whatever.
* Democratic Catch-22: Executive Salary Caps Unworkable Because Of $10 Billion Tax Revenue Loss