Pluto, which enjoyed planet status yesterday, does not enjoy planet status today. How so? SCIENCE! Or, perhaps more accurately, scientists. The International Astronomical Union, an Earth-based scientific organization, demoted Pluto to "dwarf planet" status. No word yet if similar bodies on Gallifrey, Tatooine, Miranda, and the other planets will follow suit. Longtime FlynnFiles readers have known that this day of Earthling hubris was coming. On behalf of all enlightened Earthlings, beings of Pluto, please accept this humble apology for the actions of a few anti-Plutonese "scientists."

So now, how should I refer to my plutonic freinds?

Nice one.

Why don't you start by apologizing to them for voting for Bush in 2000 and 2004.

You enabled Al-Quadea to atack this country, enabled a bundgled response, and enabled a President to wage a useless war that is engdangering our security.

Apologize.

Bill Buckley has!

Dan isn't Pro-Bush, you loon.

I usually choose not to feed the trolls on this website but this time I can't resist. Haha, you yahoo, what does Bush or the war on terror have to do with reclassifying Pluto? And to suggest Dan Flynn is pro-Bush shows your ignorance. Do you even visit this site regularly? You left wing cry babies all sing the same song. Maybe it's time to try a different one, or at least change keys.

I'm curious about how you would deal with the terrorism issue.

Clinton had nothing to do w/ enabling Al Queda. Afghanistan was well-planned, but Iraq, I agree we misexecuted. Better to bring the fight to the Middle East rather than let them blow up planes here. You agree, right?

I meant, "Of course, Clinton had nothing to do w/ enabling Al Queda."

Not to mention that Bush is not a real conservative.

Here is a site that gives the sizes of the planets:

http://www.idahoptv.org/ntti/nttilessons/lessons2000/lau11.html

What an odd resolution given that while Pluto was only 2300 km in diameter, Mercury is only a bit more than twice that size at 4,900 km. And on the other end Jupiter and Saturn are both over 125,000 KM in diameter, so they would have to be called "giant planets" right?

Why didn't Reuters bother telling us what the actual definition of a planet was that was agreed to by these scientists?

Anyway, Pluto should file a formal protest.

This is BS, man. They can just take away a planet? What about all the posters of the solar system, and the books that have to be changed? Did anyone think what this could do to the economy?

Seriously, man, this is f-ed up. I need to go think about this for a while....

Found it! Below is the definition of "planet" that was used to exclude Pluto. The "clearing out its hood" clause is interesting since it presupposes that the clearing out of the hoods of the other planets was a result of those planets mass. If anyone should know whether that was the case these guys should know. But I would think that other causes of that clearing could be the gravitational pull of the sun itself, the pull of bigger planets, the effect of bigger planets on other planets orbits, the effect of the moons of planets, and of the various asteroid belts and comets in the orbits. Also, what does clearing out the hood mean when all planets show evidence of being trounced by meteors in the past, present and future, and our current fears of a future comet smashing us? I don't know if this is an arbitrary definition or if any of my suggested causes of a clear hood have any scientific cogency, but I still smell a conspiracy to screw the Plutonese. It also sounds like the complaint of suburbanites for the clutter of a city, since Pluto doesn't keep a tidy hood it can't count as a planet!

RESOLUTION 5A
The IAU therefore resolves that planets and other bodies in our Solar System be defined into three distinct categories in the following way:

(1) A planet1 is a celestial body that (a) is in orbit around the Sun, (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, and (c) has cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit.

(2) A dwarf planet is a celestial body that (a) is in orbit around the Sun, (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape2, (c) has not cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit, and (d) is not a satellite.

(3) All other objects3 orbiting the Sun shall be referred to collectively as "Small Solar System Bodies".

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1The eight planets are: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
2An IAU process will be established to assign borderline objects into either dwarf planet and other categories.
3These currently include most of the Solar System asteroids, most Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs), comets, and other small bodies.

Pluto has committed Suicide. And posted about it on MySpace:

http://plutosuicide.ytmnd.com/

Now I have to go and re-classify my plutonic friends. Bummer.

HaHa, you the epitome of Moonbats in this country.

I think they should think twice about demoting 'Miranda', the Reavers might not take to kindly to it.

http://www.nasawatch.com/archives/2006/08/this_is_making.html#more

This is what is apparently going around at the Jet Propulsion Lab.
An excerpt...

Union of Plutonic States Contests Earthlings' Demotion of its Status. No Retaliation Planned, But Planned Aid May Be Delayed

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - FRIGEON, August 24, 2006/Plutonic News via Deep Space Net/ -- /The High Council of the Union of Plutonic States notes with the greatest disappointment that the inhabitants of the third rock from the Sun, otherwise known as Earth, have unilaterally declared that Pluto is no longer a planet.

"It is very odd that a group of university professors a billion klurchniks from here would presume to change the status of our home planet" said High Council General Convener Blanpik Vogonj. "Nothing is any different here, in spite of their unfortunate action."

Other members of the High Council were less diplomatic in their comments. "For heaven's sake, they don't even know what we look like," barked Council Under-Minion Tork Uwapht. "The most they've seen of us is a smudge from their Rubble [sic] Space Telescope. They haven't the foggiest idea what this place is like.".........

This is just more evidence that Bush's unilateral approach to everything is starting to affect others as earthlings have now unilaterily decided to boot Pluto from Planethood without consulting the rest of the solar system's inhabitants first. What arrogance! We should not be surprised when attacks from other planets start due to us not taking time to understand them or include them in solar system decisions.

We have no one to blame but ourselves if we get attacked.

Wait I'm a loon??

I know Dan was against the war from the very begining.

But he still didn't have the cojognes to vote for Kerry in 04.

HaHa: Kerry voted to authorize the war, and campaigned as a pro-war Democrat. The implication of your comment is that anti-war people should have voted for Kerry. That doesn't make sense. Kerry, like Bush, supported the war. Why are you bringing this up in a thread on Pluto?

There seems to be little rhyme or reason when HaHa strikes. Like most on the left, their thought processes are random. Or, maybe HaHa is just a pizzed off Plutonian?