One of the rules of the Obama administration is that when a petition exceeds 25,000 signatures from the "We the People" website, the White House is required to give an official response. In this case, the petition was a proposal to build "The Death Star", a weapon capable of destroying an entire planet just like the one in the many films of Star Wars.

Paul Shawcros, who is the Chief of the Science and Space Branch, was the one who provided a response to the request. He said the project would cost more than 890 quadrillion dollars, and it was a big investment for a project that was destined to fail.

He also emphasized that the U.S. government has employed measures to reduce expenses.

Shawcross also said that the Obama administration is not in favor of exploding planets.

One question regarding this petition is what was going through the mind of those who signed the petition? Are they willing to agree for the government to spend all that money when the weapon can be destroyed by a man in a spaceship?

This is not the first time that petitions like this one are unusual.

A few weeks ago there was another one to deport the journalist Piers Morgan for his comments on gun control.

25,000 signatures for a population of more than 300 million makes many people wonder how useful these petitions are to Obama's administration? What are the causes of their interest? Should the number of signatures be changed in order to issue a response?

*You can view the full petition and Paul Shawcros response here.

Brenda.Colon@sandiegored.com

Omar.Martinez@sandiegored.com