Star Wars Death Star Petition Rejected By The White House

Every time the people of America come up with a really good idea, government always has a way of tying it up in bureaucracy and red tape. Even though well over 25,000 people signed a petition for the U.S. government to begin construction of a Death Star like seen in the movie Star Wars, the White House has issued a rejection of the proposal. In a response entitled "This Isn't the Petition Response You're Looking For," Paul Shawcross, who is Chief of the Science and Space Branch at the White House Office of Management and Budget, writes that while the Administration shares the desire for job creation and a strong national defense, a Death Star isn't on the horizon. Shawcross states the following reasons for the White House rejecting the petition. 1. 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. 2. The Administration does not support blowing up planets. 3. Why would we spend countless taxpayer dollars on a Death Star with a fundamental flaw that can be exploited by a one-man starship? Shawcross goes on to point out that there is already a Space Station with six astronauts living in it right now. He also adds that the U.S. has "two robot science labs -- one wielding a laser -- roving around Mars, looking at whether life ever existed on the Red Planet." Shawcross does admit "the United States doesn't have anything that can do the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs," but he adds that "we've got two spacecraft leaving the Solar System and we're building a probe that will fly to the exterior layers of the Sun." Shawcross also points out that the President knows his way around a light saber and shares a photo, which almost makes up for the disappointment that the Death Star will not go forward.

Shacross ends by pointing out that "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."