The Obama administration has disappointed yet another group of Americans via its “We the People” online petition platform. In an elegantly titled response — “This Isn’t the Petition Response You’re Looking For” — the White House’s Paul Shawcross rejected a request to fund and build a Death Star by 2016, which has been signed by over 34,000 Star Wars fans and national defense experts since it was created in mid-November. According to Shawcross, who is in charge of the government’s science and space budget, a Death Star has been estimated to cost $850,000,000,000,000,000 (someone actually did the math), which simply wouldn’t be feasible when “we’re working hard to reduce the deficit, not expand it.” Additionally, Shawcross notes, “the White House does not support blowing up other planets,” nor do they think it’s a good idea to invest taxpayer dollars in a super-weapon “with a fundamental flaw that can be exploited by a one-man starship.” At least you can see that they gave it some real thought.
