# For Sarah Palin **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 17, 2008, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-sarah-palin/473186 "2008-11-17T22:05:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-sarah-palin/473186/1 "2008-11-17T22:05:16Z")
So do you STILL think that polar bears are NOT an endangered species, you idiotic neo-Christian cunt? News flash—they’re fucking [EATING EACH OTHER](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhVl_OLtajM)!!! Sorry for screaming, but I’m really close to tears right now. And I’m not being histrionic—this is really making my lower lip quiver. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-sarah-palin/473186/2 "2008-11-17T22:14:41Z")
Not having sound, since I’m at work, how exactly is polar bears eating each other evidence that they are endangered? ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-sarah-palin/473186/3 "2008-11-17T22:17:22Z")
They normally have prey that they can get at and eat. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-sarah-palin/473186/4 "2008-11-17T22:23:04Z")
I’m not trying to be a bitch here, but couldn’t that indicate that polar bear \*prey \*is endangered? Or that polar bear populations are too _large_, making food a relative scarcity? I don’t know nothin’ bout polar bears, for all I know there’s 3 left in the whole world. I’m just not understanding the OP’s evidence. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-sarah-palin/473186/5 "2008-11-17T22:27:49Z")
You’re correct WhyNot. Alone it’s pretty much just a cum hoc argument. However, formulated fully: polar bears require a certain temperature and a certain amount of ice in order to hunt properly. As the ice has been melting more and more, the bears have been having to swim insane distances, and often are unable to catch preferred prey types, if they catch any prey at all. Their prey species may also be declining in numbers, but the bears have turned to cannibalism, in part, because they simply can’t get at the food. [This](http://www.nwf.org/polarbear/) is a good resource. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-sarah-palin/473186/6 "2008-11-17T22:29:24Z")
> [@FinnAgain](#): > > However, formulated fully: polar bears require a certain temperature and a certain amount of ice in order to hunt properly. As the ice has been melting more and more, the bears have been having to swim insane distances, and often are unable to catch preferred prey types, if they catch any prey at all. Their prey species may also be declining in numbers, but the bears have turned to cannibalism, in part, because they simply can’t get at the food. [This](http://www.nwf.org/polarbear/) is a good resource. While that’s pretty fucked up, it doesn’t like any sort of evidence that the polar bears themselves are endangered, as you note. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-sarah-palin/473186/7 "2008-11-17T22:32:07Z")
_a bit of googling later_ No, polar bears aren’t endangered. At best, they’re “threatened”, and some polar bear communities are actually increasing, and hunting is, at this point in time, not a threat to the polar bear population. I got all this from a [pro-polar bear, pro-conservation site](http://www.polarbearsinternational.org/faq/#q2). > [@](#): > > Are polar bears endangered? > Scientists predict that, if current warming trends continue in the Arctic, two-thirds of the world’s polar bears could disappear by 2050. At the most recent meeting of the IUCN Polar Bear Specialist Group (held in Seattle in 2005), the world’s leading polar bear scientists reported that of the 19 subpopulations of polar bears, five were declining, five were stable, two were increasing, and seven had insufficient data to make a determination. The group reclassified the polar bear as vulnerable on the IUCN World Conservation Union’s “Red List of Threatened Species,” noting that the species could become extinct due to sea ice changes. Individual countries with polar bears have reclassified the species as well. Citing to concerns about shrinking sea ice habitat, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced on May 14, 2008, that it is listing the polar bear as a Threatened Species under the Endangered Species Act. Canada and Russia both list the polar bear as “a species of concern.” The major threat to the polar bear is shrinking sea ice habitat due to climate change. Other threats include pollution, poaching, and industrial disturbances. Hunting could become a threat if populations are not well managed. On preview: Thanks **FinnAgain**. Looks like it’s not tea and roses, and we should definitely Do Something about that, but the OP\* is\* histrionic. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-sarah-palin/473186/8 "2008-11-17T22:38:30Z")
I’ll admit that I had a minor brain fart and missed the word “species” in the OP after “endangered”. They’re certainly in danger, and things suck for them, and the fact that they’ve taken to eating one another is Some Bad Shit. But they’re not an official Endangered Species. Then again, there have also been arguments (admittedly, I haven’t researched them) that at least in America the bears’ legal definition has been held hostage to political concerns as an ES in some areas would limit oil drilling. I’ve been over-saturated with Bush news during the last few years and, as my outrage meter redlined, exploded and vaporized itself years ago, I’ve taken to just ignoring news about Bush. Most of the claims made about the politicization of the bears’ situation heap blame directly or indirectly on Bush’s feet, and being outraged by his handling of polar bears is a hill too far, for me at least. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-sarah-palin/473186/9 "2008-11-17T22:56:28Z")
> [@Washoe](#): > > So do you STILL think that polar bears are NOT an endangered species, you idiotic neo-Christian cunt? News flash—they’re fucking [EATING EACH OTHER](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhVl_OLtajM)!!! Sorry for screaming, but I’m really close to tears right now. And I’m not being histrionic—this is really making my lower lip quiver. 1. They’re not an endangered species. 2. Researchers have [known about polar bear cannibalism](http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic52-3-307.pdf) for a long time. 3. “Nature, red in tooth and claw.” If you cry over that, I imagine you’re bawling over the defenseless gazelle hunted by those mean feline predators. 4. Since this is the Pit, I think you’re a giant fucking retard to slam Palin for claiming polar bears aren’t an endangered species when they are not, in truth, actually an endangered species. And I have very little doubt that rather than apologize for the error, you will have some self-righteous justification for your error. So if Palin had been wrong, SHE would have been an “idiotic neo-Christian cunt.” Now that you’re the one that’s wrong, I bet the characterization of the error will be considerably less vitriolic. 5. Won’t it? ---
**Author:** ![WF\_Tomba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d9b06d/32.png) [@WF\_Tomba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WF_Tomba)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-sarah-palin/473186/10 "2008-11-17T23:04:23Z")
I’m not sure whether **Washoe** understands the difference between an Endangered Species and a species that is endangered. Polar bears are definitely the latter but not the former. I have no idea what Palin said on the matter. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-sarah-palin/473186/11 "2008-11-17T23:05:02Z")
Polar bears have been known for cannibalism for a long time. The Arctic is too tough an environment to let good meat go to waste. I remember a TV program a decade or more ago which showed a mother bear shepherding her cubs to safety from a male polar bear, except that one cub succumbed to the cold and had to be left. The male polar bear tucked in. See [here](http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic52-3-307.pdf) for an academic report of another case of polar bear cannibalism. Edit: hah! I see **Bricker** beat me to the same cite. His post wan’t there when I started. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-sarah-palin/473186/12 "2008-11-17T23:58:37Z")
How come Republican and Christian women get called ‘cunts’ around here all the time and nobody calls it sexist? ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-sarah-palin/473186/13 "2008-11-18T00:04:19Z")
I saw another online video of lesbians eating each other. Are they endangered? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-sarah-palin/473186/14 "2008-11-18T00:06:48Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > How come Republican and Christian women get called ‘cunts’ around here all the time and nobody calls it sexist? Because plenty of Republican and Christian men get called “dicks” around here? > [@DocCathode](#): > > I saw another online video of lesbians eating each other. > > Are they endangered? There sure seem to be a lot less of them since I graduated college… ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Dave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/46a35a/32.png) [@Great\_Dave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Dave)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-sarah-palin/473186/15 "2008-11-18T00:07:23Z")
> [@SA](#): > > How come Republican and Christian women get called ‘cunts’ around here all the time and nobody calls it sexist? We’ve reclaimed the word- vagina, from the Latin for sheath, implies that the cunt is nothing more than a place to put a penis. ---
**Author:** ![rolandgunslinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cdc98d/32.png) [@rolandgunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rolandgunslinger)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-sarah-palin/473186/16 "2008-11-18T00:07:45Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > I saw another online video of lesbians eating each other. > > Are they endangered? God I hope not.:eek: ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-sarah-palin/473186/17 "2008-11-18T00:09:11Z")
Aren’t we allowed to forget about Sarah Palin now? ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-sarah-palin/473186/18 "2008-11-18T00:13:06Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > How come Republican and Christian women get called ‘cunts’ around here all the time and nobody calls it sexist? People of all stripes get called cunts around here. How come you only notice it when it’s directed at a Republican or a Christian woman? ---
**Author:** ![Omegaman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e480ec/32.png) [@Omegaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omegaman)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-sarah-palin/473186/19 "2008-11-18T00:13:07Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > I saw another online video of lesbians eating each other. > > Are they endangered? No. You can turn the video back on now. And, ummmm… what was that address…? ---
**Author:** ![yaddayadda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/f04885/32.png) [@yaddayadda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yaddayadda)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-sarah-palin/473186/20 "2008-11-18T00:21:25Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > How come Republican and Christian women get called ‘cunts’ around here all the time and nobody calls it sexist? Good question. We can only consider the source. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-sarah-palin/473186.md?page=2)