Even if you’re not a fan of the Star Wars films, chances are you’ll get a laugh out of this quirky news story from the States.
The National Post reports that the White House was forced to respond to a public petition which asked it to build a real life Death Star. Now, if your Star Wars knowledge isn’t that vast, we can tell you that the Death Star is basically a massive, moon-sized space station that’s also a huge weapon capable of destroying the entire universe. Basically, it’s not a good thing (despite what Darth Vader would have you believe…)
Anyway, the Obama administration has to, by law, officially respond to any public petition that receives more than 30,000 signatures. That’s why the White House had to respond to the recent calls for Piers Morgan’s deportation.
It goes without saying that most of these types of petitions are stilly or a complete joke, but a petition that the American government start building a Death Star by 2016 was actually a genuine one. Yes, seriously.
If Darth Vader was in the American government, this petition probably would have passed
Here are a few excerpts from the hilarious letter that the White House sent in response to the Death Star petition.
The response begins with the headline: This Isn’t the Petition Response You’re Looking For.
“The Administration shares your desire for job creation and a strong national defense, but a Death Star isn’t on the horizon,” writes Paul Shawcross, the Chief of the Science and Space Branch at the White House.
“The construction of the Death Star has been estimated to cost more than $850,000,000,000,000,000.
We’re working hard to reduce the deficit, not expand it. The Administration does not support blowing up planets.
Why would we spend countless taxpayer dollars on a Death Star with a fundamental flaw that can be exploited by a one-man starship?” Mr Shawcross continues.
The response then goes on to tell the petitioners to “look carefully” and they’ll see a Space Station already floating around in the sky, which has been designed to discover “how humans can live and thrive in space for long durations.”
“We don’t have a Death Star, but we do have floating robot assistants on the Space Station, a President who knows his way around a light saber and advanced (marshmallow) cannon, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which is supporting research on building Luke’s arm, floating droids and quadruped walkers,” the response says.
The response goes on to state that the petitioners should enjoy the fact that we already live in the future and it ends with the hilarious warning:
“Remember, the Death Star’s power to destroy a planet, or even a whole star system, is insignificant next to the power of the Force.”
We couldn’t have said it better ourselves and it’s pretty clear that Mr Paul Shawcross from the White House is actually a legend. Read his entire response on the official White House website by clicking here.
