bug#24915: alignment not working

[Sobel-Sorenson, Chandler - (scar)]

I'm trying to make a new partition but the alignment isn't working.  I've 
started parted with: parted -a optimal /dev/sda.  Then:

 (parted) mkpart                                                           
Partition name?  []? variables                                            
File system type?  [ext2]? ext4                                           
Start? 0                                                                  
End? 4g                                                                   
Warning: The resulting partition is not properly aligned for best performance.
Ignore/Cancel? 

Am i doing something wrong here?