(Photo: WhiteHouse.gov)

After a slew of stupid petitions cluttered the White House's official petition platform We the People, the administration has decided to raise the bar for the amount of signatures required to elicit a White House response. Now, instead of 25,000 signatures (a number easily attainable by Redditors and 4chan enthusiasts), a petition will require 100,000 signatures in order to garner a response.

The White House is too polite to admit that this is largely because they had to take time to write a response to a petition about building a Death Star, and instead argues that We the People has seen explosive growth recently, and it makes sense to raise the signature bar accordingly:

"In the last two months of 2012, use of We the People more than doubled. In just that time roughly 2.4 million new users joined the system, 73,000 petitions were created and 4.9 million signatures were registered....Most petitions that crossed the threshold collected 25,000 signatures within five days of their creation. More than 60 percent of the petitions to cross threshold in all of 2012 did so in the last two months of the year."

This isn't the first time the White House has upped the ante: previously they raised the signature requirement from 5,000 to 25,000.

Our sincerest condolences to Pokemon enthusiasts.

(Photo: DeviantArt)

This morning a petition on the White House's official petition portal, We the People, began circulating across the web that asked the government to consider assigning each state a Pokemon character to represent it. It received under 1,000 signatures, but delighted swaths of "'90s ubernerds" nostalgic for a time when trading Pokemon cards on the playground was the most emotionally-fraught adventure of the day.

But a few hours after news of the petition broke, the White House yanked it from We the People, claiming that it violated the site's Terms of Participation. We have to assume recognizing a state Pokemon is not exactly high up on the administration's lengthy list of priorities.

Though there are some worthwhile petitions on We the People, many Internet users have glommed on to the tool as an act of trolling. And who can blame them, really? Come up with some outrageous idea, spread it around via social networks, and bam--it can't be that hard to get 25,000 signatures on a jokey petition. And who says millennials are politically disengaged?

"Are kids getting stoned and signing petitions now?" wondered one Betabeat writer. "Yay for engagement but go find a light show."

To be fair, the White House hasn't exactly discouraged this sort of behavior. Last week, the administration released a hilarious response to a petition to build a Death Star which, while absolutely delightful, was probably not the best use of government time?

(Photo: Eye on Star Wars)

Remember that petition urging the White House to facilitate job creation by building a gigantic Death Star a la Star Wars? With a little help from 4chan, the petition reached the 25,000 signature threshold it needed to elicit a response from the White House.

Now, the administration has responded to the petition in a note called "This Isn't the Petition Response You're Looking For," and it's kind of awesome?

The Administration shares your desire for job creation and a strong national defense, but a Death Star isn't on the horizon. Here are a few reasons:

• 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 very sensible, we have to admit.

You can read the full response here.

America's newest public works project. (Photo: Eye on Star Wars)

Let's start by saying you can make a petition for almost anything on WhiteHouse.gov, and we're pretty sure the President never even glances at them. But apparently, over 6,800 people have signed a petition asking President Obama to start building a Death Star, the space station/super weapon from Star Wars, by 2016. And who says the Internet savvy are politically lazy?

At first glance, the petition appears to be a joke, but its creator, John D. of Longmont, Colorado, has a pretty rational reason for making the request:

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 economy could use as many new jobs as possible; why not put people to work creating a floating space weapon that can destroy earth with just one energy beam?

But for now, John D. will have to wait: the petition needs to hit 25,000 signatures before it's considered.

Feminist activist Shelby Knox, she of early aughts documentary fame, tweeted the following: "Tomorrow, feminists are rallying in front of Facebook's NYC office to ask them to put women on their board. Join us?"

The rally is scheduled for tomorrow, April 25th, at noon, when UltraViolet intends to deliver the signed petition to the Facebook offices.