Wingnut freakout over ‘Death Star’ troll petition

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

A columnist for the wingnut conspiracy theory central website World Net Daily
took a trolling petition on the White House website as a sign that
President Obama is perhaps considering building a Death Star.

Jillian Rayfield at Salon writes, World Net Daily wonders: “Will Obama build a Death Star?”

DeathStarIn a post called “WILL OBAMA BUILD A DEATH STAR NEXT? White House
urged to construct ‘Star Wars’ space battle station,” Joe Kovacs wonders
if the White House will respond to a petition on its “We The People”
website calling for construction on a Death Star to begin by 2016.

“It
sounds like a case of ‘May the farce be with you,’” Kovacs writes, “but
at this moment, in a galaxy not far away, there is a real-life petition
on a White House website pushing for the funding and construction of a
Death Star like the one featured in the ‘Star Wars’ film saga.”

The petition
asks the Obama Administration to secure resources and funding for the
construction: “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.”

What Kovacs is missing, it seems, is that the petition is part of a slew of mostly joke postings on the “We The People” website, that include
things like, “Establish new legal system of motorcycle riding ‘Judges’
who serve as police, judge, jury, and executioner all in one,” and
another Star Wars-themed petition to “Peacefully grant the planet of
Alderaan to withdraw from the Galactic Empire and create its own new
government.”

A lot of these postings were the Internet’s response to petitions
from states asking for permission to secede from the Union in the wake
of President Obama’s election. One fake petition addressed this as well,
asking to “Deport everyone that signed a petition to withdraw their
state from the United States of America.”

Wingnuts who live in the conspiracy world of WND and FAUX News will believe anything.

H/T Maddow Blog for graphic.