Even though President Barack Obama has repeatedly pledged to ban congressional earmarks, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel has 16 such projects, worth about $8.5 million, in the bill the Senate is considering this week. The earmarks include funds for Adler Planetarium and west suburban Franklin Park. Obama has been relentless in criticizing the use of earmarks; in his address to Congress last week, he boasted how the economic stimulus package was "free of earmarks." By the end of this week, however, he's likely to sign a separate $410 billion spending plan that keeps most domestic programs funded through...