Here's a fun way to harness the power of the Internet in order to get Barack Obama to pay attention to you. If you cook up a petition that collected at least 25,000 signatures and send it to the President, the White House is required to respond to you. 25,000 signatures probably seemed like a huge number in the days when you actually had to sign a physical piece of paper, but given the Internet's amazing ability to rally people behind a cause, the Obama administration is now forced to respond to all kinds of nonsense, like a petition demanding Louisiana's secession from the union, or for the release of the White House's beer recipe.
But for geeks of a certain stripe, there's never been anything better than the White House's official response to a petition with this title: "Secure resources and funding, and begin construction of a Death Star by 2016." titled "This Isn't The Petition Response You're Looking For," the official White House response is a treasure trove of Star Wars references with a strong dose of actual logic. They open with these very logical reasons to avoid building a Death Star:
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?
All fair points! The full response, which you can read here, also includes some fair points about the Obama administration's investment in technology and space exploration, including the Mars Rover, science fairs held at the White House, and the fact that President Obama knows his way around a light saber. Say what you will about the current administration, but I think this makes the Obama White House easily the most Star Wars friendly one since Reagan stole the title for his own defense program.
