>>"To the frustration and discouragement of many Democrats, House and Senate lawmakers and aides say it now appears likely that President Obama will this week sign into law a provision allowing visitors to national parks and refuges to carry loaded and concealed weapons.
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>>The White House is lukewarm at best on the gun provision, which was added to a popular measure imposing new rules on credit card companies. But the Democrats who now control both Congress and the White House appear ready to allow it to survive rather than derail a consumer-friendly credit card measure that Mr. Obama is eager to sign as Congress heads off for a Memorial Day recess."
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>>http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/20/us/politics/20cong.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
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>That's bizarre - linking gun control to a credit card bill? Is that an example of "earmarking" in US politics?
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>Our federal Parliament up here is pretty dysfunctional, but I can't recall any serious abuses like that in confidence votes in our minority governments over the last few years.

This was an amendment which went through and passed a vote. Earmarks are a different animal as they are spending initiatives attached to other bills without a vote.

Then there's "air-dropping" or "midnight-dropping" which is when language is inserted into a bill at the last minute before final vote. Typically this is used by politicians who see an opportunity to slip a low-priority legislative initiative into a popular bill with little objection.
For an example of this see the UIGEA.