It's not often that Nintendo's cuddly Kirby gets mentioned in the same breath with swastikas.

But according to the Second Life News Network, an under-construction store designed to cater to "all of your cell-shaded Kirby needs" was vandalized on Saturday. Swastikas and the words "Kirby hates our troops" were used to deface the site.

Okay, vandalism and griefing goes on all the time in SL. What's unique about this case is SLNN's claim that the defacing was done using the account of an intern for an unnamed U.S. senator:

A campaign manager for the senator, who asked SLNN not to associate the "intolerant acts" with the senator or his campaign, offered an explanation about how the graffiti got there.

"When the incident took place, the intern was en route to the senator's national office in Washington, and had a house guest... his house guest utilized his account to explore Second Life, as it were..."

The campaign manager said the incident would not hurt the senator's campaign. "As the staffer was not in charge of his avatar whilst the intolerant acts were committed, I see little reason for him to start anew with a new avatar..."

SLNN also reports that the owner of the Kirby Emporium, who goes by Intlibber Brautigan, in-game was annoyed:

One has to wonder in this age of Homeland Security, that a congressional staffer, who may have highly sensitive information on his PC, leaves his password on a post-it on his desk.

GP: SLNN needs to do a much better job of explaining this story. Why not name the senator? And what is Nintendo's relationship - if any - to the defaced Kirby Emporium?