Petitioners push Obama to build 'Death Star'

We may soon get a White House response on a way-out proposal: Construction of a "Death Star" for interplanetary defense.

A request on the White House petition site to build a Death Star by 2016 says: "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 petition also has more than 27,000 signatures -- many of them Star Wars fans, no doubt -- well over the 25,000 threshold necessary to trigger a formal response from the White House.

There's no guarantee, though -- the White House still gets to decide which petitions it chooses to answer.