Last year, in an interview with Chris Matyszczyk of CNET’s “Technically Incorrect”,  Facebook representative Barry Schnitt stated that he was not sure what position Facebook would take if Nazi or other hate related items were sold through a Facebook third party application.

“One last question: I know there are some who would like to know whether you would permit the sale of Nazi memorabilia through a third-party Facebook app. I understand eBay decided to ban the sale of Nazi memorabilia even in the US, even though it is not illegal here.”

Schnitt: “It is a good question. Honestly, we haven’t had to deal with it yet. I suspect we’ll be having another one of those cross-functional meetings to discuss it soon.”

The time has come for him for Facebook to take a stand one way or another.  A third party application called Ayran Wear has appeared on Facebook.  Like many third party applications  it allows Facebook users to send “gifts” to their Facebook friends.

While no items are actually being sold, hate is for sale with this application.  Aryan Wear is a company based in Hurst, Texas not far from where I live.  It is a hate site that has been on the radar of the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center for quite some time.

The intent of this application is to indirectly promote and brand the Aryan Wear site by enticing those utilizing it to take interest in the products and search for the site thereby stimulating sales of the products. Each product listed as a “gift” is available for sale on the Aryan Wear site.

We know Aryan Wear brands itself with hatred.  The unanswered question is how Facebook will  brand itself with regards to the promotion of products on its site that send a message of hate.  Will they continue to allow this third party application that is clearly designed to stir sales of hate merchandise such as Nazi Stomping Boots,Swastikas and White Pride Shirts or will they continue to waffle on how they define hate speech on their site.

Stay tuned.

Treason-“Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.”

There is a media push for Times Square Bomber to be charged with the crime of  Treason in addition to the terror related charges arising out of his failed bombing attempt.  Such a charge would subject him to the death penalty if convicted.  A normal emotional reaction for an emotional, heinous crime but Treason? Really?

This is not a scholarly analysis but the first question that comes to my mind is, what does it mean to “levy war”?  Nowadays, it seems that the media wants to classify practically every act of domestic terrorism as a “levy of war”.

There have been only 17 treason convictions in the history of our country.  One of the unsuccessful prosecutions is the most telling in whether the Time Square Bomber’s actions constitute the crime of treason.

In 1807, founding father Aaron Burr was unsuccessfully tried for treason.  Ex Parte Bollman was the trial of some of Burr’s alleged conspirators.  In Bollman, Justice Chief Justice John Marshall opined on the meaning of the “levy of war”.  He wrote:

“… To conspire to levy war, and actually to levy war, are distinct offences. The first must be brought into open action by the assemblage of men for a purpose treasonable in itself, or the fact of levying war cannot have been committed. also stating that “there must be a an actual assembling of men, for a treasonable person to constitute levying of war”

Importantly as well is that Justice Marshall also wrote that the crime of treason should be strictly construed writing: “the crime of treason should not be extended by construction to doubtful cases”

In the trial of Burr himself, rulings made it clear that a person had to have actually participated in actual hostilities against the United States to have levied war.

What constitutes “hostilities against the United States”?  There is no doubt that the act of the Times Square Bomber was hostile but where they hostilities against the United States in the manner contemplated in the “levy of war” as intended by the Framers?  The most telling quote again by Justice Marshall in the Bollman case:

“Crimes so atrocious as those which have for their object the subversion by violence of those laws and those institutions which have been ordained in order to secure the peace and happiness of society, are not to escape punishment, because they have not ripened into treason. The wisdom of the legislature is competent to provide for the case; and the framers of our Constitution . . .must have conceived it more safe that punishment in such cases should be ordained by general laws, formed upon deliberation, under the influence of no resentments, and without knowing on whom they were to operate, than that it should be inflicted under the influence of those passions which the occasion seldom fails to excite, and which a flexible definition of the crime, or a construction which would render it flexible, might bring into operation.’

In other words, when there are laws in place to deal with crimes, we should use those and not treason which should be strictly construed.  We should not force fit the law of treason into situations based on our emotions and passions at the heinousness of the crime.  In my opinion that is what we are attempting to do with the Times Square Bomber with regards to the crime of Treason.

For the last few days, I have been depressed, angry, sick to my stomach and unable to focus.  I have cried uncontrollably, kicked my dog and chased my cat around the house flicking  Dirk Nowitzki basketball trading cards at her.

To top it off, this morning I woke up sitting naked in an seat in an empty American Airlines Center screaming “FREE RODDY B!”

After posting bail, I rushed home to see if I could self diagnose the mysterious symptoms that have overtaken my body.

I did an exhaustive Google search. I  researched medical journals. I even scheduled an emergency visit with a sports fan psychologist.  Much to my relief, I finally found the answer in an obscure article entitled “Sports Fanatic Psychosis, Diagnosis and Treatment“.  The article was put out by the South End Of The Island Of Grenada School Of Medicine. I am suffering from “Season Over Syndrome“(SOS). It turns out there are seven stages of “SOS”.

1.  SHOCK AND DENIAL

This feeling is generally manifested in a  heightened awareness of situations and individuals that will be left behind after the season is over.  You find yourself with overwhelming feelings of sorrow and sympathy for players making millions of dollars per year who are already sitting on desert islands sipping Cuba Libre drinks, banging hot women and partying with the Dos Equis Man as they live vicariously through themselves.

2. PAIN AND GUILT

As your body goes through the withdrawal of countless nights of playoff drinking and debauchery, you suddenly realize that your condo has not been cleaned in weeks. Your  unwashed laundry stinks.  Your girlfriend has left you.  You can no longer see your feet or your “Johnson” from drinking and eating so much.  The fat slob in the mirror overwhelms you with pain and guilt.  The rest does not bother you that much.  That’s what maids and strip clubs are for.

3.  ANGER

Your guilt turns to increasing anger as you realize that you look like shit, your baseball team sucks, football is months away and your your now eliminated NBA team wont have a 1st round draft pick because they traded it for a Slobovian point guard named Meloosh.

4.  DEPRESSION AND LONELINESS

Just as all your friends think you are over the disappointment and ready to move on, you become very reflective of the season that was.  You begin inviting your friends over to show them your new Tops Basketball Card Collection and  watch endless reruns of movies like Hoosiers, The Fish That Save Pittsburgh, Celtic Pride, Like Mike, And Space Jam.  After one night of this, your friends begin discussing an SOS intervention behind your back.

5.  FEELING BETTER

You start to adjust to a boring summer without the benefit of good tickets to playoff games to pick up hot women. That’s ok though because the night club scene is improving.  Out of contention and out of work NBA players, groupies and douchebag wannabes converge on the club scene  with guns, entourage and gangsta attitude in tow.  “Celebrity Beatdowns“  are a weekly nightclub event.  They help wean you off the Jerry Springer and TMZ addictions that are  symptoms of SOS.

6.  RECONSTRUCTION AND REDEMPTION

November is rapidly approaching. Time to get your body back shape for the long grueling season. Pre-game happy hours, post game happy hours, post game private parties.  An intense heckling regime to be rehearsed.  Have to look good for the Jumbotron or any impromptu national television appearances.  The gym is now your best friend. Your team is not looking good for the new year so you have to be looking extra buff.  It’s exponentially harder to pick up chicks after a loss. You think Meelosh will be a bust.

7. ACCEPTANCE AND HOPE

As opening day gets closer, the trash talk of a new season begins. You once again begin to feel the hope of a the promised NBA title  despite a bunch of crappy mid-level exception signings, no bench and Meelosh as your starting center.

You will once again experience the joy of basketball, women and making a complete drunken idiot out of yourself all in the name of basketball fandom.  If the team wins you might even get laid this year.  Meelosh is coming around. Life is good.