Everyone's favorite porkbuster, Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) has sent a letter to over one hundred university presidents wondering how they lobby to receive earmarks. Earmarks per se are not subject to any peer review -- they just go to whomever is favored by the congressperson who gets them into a spending bill. Of course, the universities are now "retaining counsel to advise the affected institutions on the range of options they have in responding to this letter.� I wonder if they'll inquire about the University of Minnesota's $16 million earmark in last year's transportation bill that built a "national university transportation center." (All earmarks in that bill came to $602 million.)