Death Star petition earns enough signatures for White House response

A petition urging the United States government to immediately begin work on a Death Star modeled on the moon-sized space station from the "Star Wars" movies has earned enough signatures to warrant a White House response.

A petition on the White House's "We the People" website earned more than 25,000 signatures in the first month since being posted, passing the threshold required to earn an official White House response.

The petition urges the government to begin construction of the Death Star in the next four years.

"Those who sign here petition the United States government to secure funding and resources, and begin construction on a Death Star by 2016,” the petition reads.

“By focusing our defense resources into a space-superiority platform and weapon system such as a Death Star, the government can spur job creation in the fields of construction, engineering, space exploration, and more, and strengthen our national defense.”

The White House petition site has been employed for both practical requests and practical jokes since being launched in September 2011. Users successfully petitioned for the release of the White House beer recipe in September of last year, and last month, voters in some states circulated petitions calling for their states to secede from the union following President Obama's reelection.

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