I speak, of course, of the Illinois Senate Committee's unanimous vote in favor of declaring Pluto a planet. One can only hope that the full Senate follows their most excellent example.
Way to go, folks. Way to look out for the little people, especially that ever-so-small-but-oh-so-vital minority of Americans Who Have Discovered Planets Only to be Vilely Cheated Out of Their Legacy By a Minority of Dirty Scientists. (Population: Clyde Tombaugh, Streator, IL.)
And way to nip that scientific coup in the bud. In the words of Senate President John Cullerton:
"I supported Senator Dahl's effort even though I was kind of surprised that apparently Pluto was decommissioned as a planet by a vote of scientists. But he claimed the vote was a very small percentage of the scientists," Cullerton said. "So he . . . chose to have us basically appoint Pluto to be a planet rather than have a special election among the scientists."
Those scientists, always trying to keep the proletariat down!
Comments from the groundlings showed both support for the measure and contempt for the depth of corruption involved in the IAU's controversial decision:
"Guys I'm really sorry but I'm a sidin with a Republican so it must be a just cause. When I first heard of Plutos' demise I was as Uppity as all git out. You cannot deny a scientific fact and occupation of space by mass. gosh pretty scientific stuff that for an ignurante furriner like me. Galileo was recently pardoned by the Catholic Church when they admitted his theorys' were true regarding the earth and the sun revolving around one another or not. If as a species we try to dominate nature to such an extent that we deny certain scientifc facts to fit some 'pigeon hole of conformity/description'. We run the risk of losing our own identity in time." --cpndodgee, Concerned Internet Citizen
"The Illinois legislature has more sense than those four percent of the International Astronomical Union, most of whom interestingly are not planetary scientists. That vote was hijacked by a small group with its own agenda of excluding Pluto and artificially limiting the number of planets in our solar system. That is why it was opposed by hundreds of professional astronomers in a petition led by Dr. Alan Stern, Principal Investigator of NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto, and it is why both scientists and lay people are working to get the demotion overturned. Pluto is a planet because it is spherical, meaning it is in a state of hydrostatic equilibrium, where its own gravity has pulled itself into a round shape. That is a hallmark of planets, not of asteroids and comets.
It is this tiny minority of the IAU who erroneously believe they are rulers of the world. They're not. They cannot change facts, and Pluto's planethood is a fact." -- laurele, Concerned Internet Citizen
This is, indeed, a momentous event. I am humbled and thankful indeed that the pleas of the oppressed are finally being heard. As you may remember, I have spoken on this issue before, and I must admit that I am moved almost to tears to see The Cause gaining support on a governmental level. Maybe now we can begin to heal.
Hang in there just a little bit longer, Pluto. Your time is coming, and that right soon.
