>Can someone explain to me why earmarks are now seen as always bad? Doesn't a Senator or Rep have a reponsibility to try to secure funding for projects in their home states? Sure, some projects may be pork, but surely not all of them are?

It is not earmarks themselves; it is a procedure of making them: too easy to add and too difficult to remove. Line-item veto, that Palin seemingly used in her state, would cure the process immensely.