PORKBUSTERS UPDATE: Investor’s Business Daily tells Bush not to be shy:

The Congressional Research Service issued a report last week confirming that earmarks not included in the actual bill but written into accompanying reports — which is most of them — do not have force of law and can therefore be disregarded by the president. . . .

But don’t just blame Democrats. This out-of-control, unaccountable waste and abuse of the citizens’ hard-earned money is a bipartisan disgrace. Byrd’s Republican counterpart on the spending panel, Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi, out-oinked even Byrd, with $774 million in earmarks. So did Alaska’s Sen. Ted Stevens, infamous for the taxpayer-funded Bridge To Nowhere and responsible for $502 million in earmarks this time around.

Not only would the president have the Constitution on his side if he declared war on the earmark racket; he would have the vast majority of Americans with him. Most people are tired of finding out after the fact that they’ve paid for billions of dollars in projects that should have been locally financed — or maybe not built at all — due to the 11th-hour stratagems.

I hope the President does the right thing.