Facebook isn't the only company playing fast and loose with the notion of "public." The SEC is apparently investigating the trading of private shares in hot Net companies like Twitter, Zynga, and LinkedIn. But Facebook is the great blue whale in this fish tank.

I am not a stock broker or a securities lawyer (thank God). But if someone out there in Cringeville can explain to me how this isn't illegal, I'd love to hear it.

I'm not saying Facebook isn't the greatest thing since individually wrapped slices of American cheese. But the notion that it's worth more than companies listed above without ever demonstrating to the world how much dosh those little 125-by-125 ads bring in is, well, pretty cheesy in itself.

And the pedigrees of its two closest friends make me a little green around the gills. Just sayin'.