The war over President Obama's health care reform bill has been down and dirty since the very start, though the major health insurance companies have a new arsenal up their sleeves. They're urging people to send emails to Congress to protest the bill by paying them off. Thing is, you can't purchase anything with said cash at Amazon eBay, or most anywhere else. But you can use it buy stuff in FarmVille, Gaia Online, and similar titles.

An anti-reform group called Get Health Reform Right is using virtual currency to help push their agenda. This is actually another form of political activism that is known as astroturfing, because it's grass-roots campaigning done in virtual space.

Is this legal? Believe it or not, yes. After all, no actual legal tender is being exchanged, just the fake kind. Though it needs to be pointed out that a vast majority of laws that deal with such matters in the matter space have yet to be established, and till that time happens (which it never might, btw, at least in our lifetimes), expect more and more hijinks. So legal? Yes. And totally skeevy? Hells yes.

Just think about it; if you're one of the lucky Americans that are able to afford health insurance, you probably never get to truly utilize the damn thing thanks to assorted nonsensical rules set up by the insurance company. So you're forking over a ton of money every month, not for your well being, but for some insurance executive's yacht, which is where he does all his screwing of hookers and doing blow off their backs. One that he paid for buying a fake yacht for that idiot friend of yours who actually plays Mafia Wars, to the point that you actually de-friended his ass because the constant game related status updates was clogging up your Facebook Wall.

What a country we live in today. Via Business Insider.