I am putting this here because current events is about the recent plane crash and I didn't want to cover it up...

I was wondering what we all think about Micheal Phelps, 8 times gold medal winner in the last Olympics, being caught smoking POT at a party??? It seems the media wants to demonize this young man and he is losing multi million dollar sponser deals, Kelloggs being one of them thats cutting and running. No more Kelloggs in my home!

I for one do not of course agree to anyone smoking pot or doing any drugs, but he is a kid, and from what anyone knows it was the first time and due somewhat to peer pressure.

I think after all he has given up of his young life to train to represent the United States in the Olympics, and do what he did (BRAVO!!) he should be at best given a slap on the wrist and left the hell alone. He apologized sincerely. So, whats your take on all this hullabaloo?

I don't think what Michael Phelps did was so terrible, but he's not a little kid. He's 22 and old enough to figure out how to handle peer pressure. He'e also old enough to understand that the multimillion dollar contracts he signed are serious business. There well may be clauses in his contracts specifying penalties for getting arrested, etc. Kellog's can make their own decisions; they running their business, not me.

Phelps may have given his life to train for the Olympics, but that was his goal, not mine. He's not going to jail, which would be silly. He lost a sponsor; live and learn.

He's a kid from my town, the age of my own son.

Frankly, I think we place way too much emphasis on sports and on athletes. Athletic ability is fine and dandy, but I don't think athletes are worth more than musicians, mathematicians, scientists, artists, teachers etc. It's ridiculous that corporations hire celebrity sponsors, and even more ridiculous that the public buys into it. He's not squeaky clean -- I'm sure it wasn't the first time and peer pressure is a lame excuse -- so if that's what they think they're paying for then they should drop him.

22 is old enough to know better. I don't like the entitlement attitude.

I'm disappointed by his actions. I work in the town where the 'crime' took place.


http://www.canada.com/Columbia+Authorities+build+case+against+Phelps/1285921/story.html

Agreed! He broke the law. Pot is still illegal last I heard!

Plus once someone reaches "star' status they have to be aware that their lives are no longers theirs. There are people everywhere, just as in ths case, that have camera phones and are waiting like thieves to steal a piece of your identity from you, by catching you doing something wrong or stupid. Michaels life is under a micriscope now, and if he wants to remain in the lime light, he best remember that fact and behave accordingly.

I don't think athletes should be paid so much. They're given millions of dollars, get hurt once, and they're out. The players who get huge contracts, feel the need to use drugs so they can keep up with what's expected of them. And what's expected is beyond human accomplishment and requires drug inducements to maintain such a high level of achievement. I agree, Chatty. The news media seems delighted to bring someone down. They should back off. But he should've known better, too.

Michael Phelps is an amazing athlete. Sorry he allowed something to sully his reputation and take the spotlight off achievements.

Don't you think there is a lot of pressure that comes with being famous?

Yes, there is........................whatttt? Okay, okay, just joshin'....

I'm not making excuses for Michael, and I think whoever said that he's old enough to know how serious a contract like this is, AND SHOULD BE TAKEN, hit the nail on the head.

On the flip side, the media is hungry for BAD news. Can you remember a time when it wasn't?

DJ's son and mine went to school with Michael at one time or other. I recall him being in elementary school and hearing on the announcements that he won another race. His entire life has been one of tremendous discipline. Too bad he couldn't continue to control himself in all areas of his life. I have a feeling he'd probably been drinking, inhibitions were down, someone passed the pot, and the rest is history. STUPID mistake which he's paying for.

Wouldn't you love to know what FRIEND sold the photo and what they got for it?

I read an article written by a boomer that said he needs to bag the pot and hit up the wine. Sorry, but I thought it was funny.

Headline news states that the S.C. sheriff is not going to charge Phelps for smoking pot. Sheriff Lott said Phelps was an American Hero.

Do you think this is fair?

I think there are a LOT of people they catch smoking pot that they don't charge. If they charged them all, our court system would be even worse of a mess. I think this one just stands out because of who it is.

He was probably not in posession of enough to really make a difference, and definetely didn't have enough to sell - from what I understand, he was just holding the bong. It's just a shame that he lost some of his sponsors. And as someone said, wonder which "friend" took the photo and turned it in?

Friends like that you don't need. I'm sorry he buckled under
to temptation, but that just proves he's human. I don't think
he should be charged. If everyone was charged, every time they
did something wrong, as DD said, the jails couldn't hold 'em
all. Sorry he lost his sponsors, though that's understandable, too. Hope this entire situation does not ruin his sports career or crush his spirit!

There's never enough evidence from a photo. The thought that they were going to charge him was a joke. How could they possibly do that from one photo? You should see what my son does with photos using his editing suite. It's amazing. Just last night, for fun, he took photos of a friend's home, water front, pier, etc., and inserted it into the trailer for the new Friday the 13th movie. It was so cool because it made it appear as though the movie took place at thier home.

I know Michael Phelps confessed, but it's possible that in this day and age, someone could take a photo of him and attached it to a bong using all the latest editing equipment. What a world.

All that information aside Dotsie, the young man screwed up and was caught, dead bang! He is a champion swimmer, not a saint!
He confessed because he was guilty and from what the papers say the Sheriff did arrest some of the kids whose home the party was at. I agree that unscropulous people can and do do terrible things to others but usually we are our own worst enemies.

Anne327, I completely agree. Pot is the least of "evils" when compared to tobacco or alcohol, never mind the harder drugs. Why don't we drop the double standard and arrest people (and nix their contracts) for smoking cigarettes in public or drinking? Or not demonize anyone at all?

Pot was made illegal because of pressure from the cotton industry. Cotton growers didn't like the competition from fast-growing, easily replenished hemp plants, so they lobbied (read: $$$$) to make hemp illegal. It had nothing to do with the "dangers" of smoking weed. That PR BS came later.

I'd like to see the penalties for driving under the influence (regardless of what the influence is) increase tenfold -- and the penalty for recreational drugs done in one's or a friend's home completely disappear.

It's true that pot is pot and some feel it is not a problem. I've seen many a young dancer be taken down by it though, as well as in school. It makes you stupid, pure and simple. Pot makes one lazy and as my own son says he can't afford to get stoned and keep up his grade average.

As to Phelps, he is only and athelete as DJ says. He is a trained body, not mind, not soul. To be a world class athlete, which I am reveiwed as too, takes a lot of work on the body and discipline but they will do anything we ask if we are good enough to draw the crowds and make the money.

Our hearts, our minds, our integrity are NOT trained as athletes and Lord knows we have seen that from many national athletes and their stupid behavior.

What I'm saying is that a world class athlete does not mean a world class person and I would wager the young man has done quite a bit that they have had to cover up to get him into the Olympics. He is only a trained body like so many wonderful bodies that are highly trained.

Once we are trained, if we step out of line, if we stop working at it, we are NOT world class athletes, we are drunks or drug users or whatever we become after we achieve what we were working for.

I've always been cool when it came to Phelps because I've seen that type of athlete before, I saw it in his interviews. He did not have heart enough for me to call him a person that should be looked up to in the country..

I know that may not be a popular opinion but he showed rudeness when interviewed, he has a body that is built for what he did, in fact, it was VERY unique for swimming and so he COULD do what he did. A lot of what we achieve as athletes depend on the gifts God gives us. If we are tall, if we are built right, etc.. all is the luck of the draw and we should be grateful if we were given a body that can do something wonderful, we should not have an ego in it at all.

He was given a gift in his body to do what he did. It's not a shorter man's fault who was at a loss because he was short. It's not a less wide upper body on a man that makes him the loser to Phelps, it's God's gifts to him.

He needed to learn humility in my own opinon. Then again, I've very close to this subject because dance is the hardest sport on the body according to Harvard studies. I know what it takes to get that audience amazed too.

He should have kept it together but whose to say he could. He is who he is.


Dancer

There is a 'romance' of sorts in using substances that are illegal. I have maintained for a long time that pot should be legal. At least remove the penalties for owning small amounts for personal use. It can be addictive if someone is prone to becoming addicted; but people get addicted to all kinds of things, legal and illegal. I don't think pot is as bad as the PR campaign makes it seem.

All these posts are real food for thought, or fodder, if you will; and, I enjoyed reading each one. Dotsie, what you wrote about your son having the ability to dub photos is interesting stuff. I've heard commentators say how one entertainer's head is put on another's body, on magazine covers. And I knew pictures were frequently airbrushed. Thing is, a person can't believe their eyes. We all know truth is spun into whatever the spinner desires. And that begs the question, "Do people actually tell the truth under oath?"

What is the truth and what is honesty these days? I mean, I know what it is, but there's always some swanky lawyer that can get these sports figures off the hook. When I spoke to my 23 year old son about Michael Phelps, he reminded me that Ray Lewis, a star of our football team, murdered someone and is still playing football and making millions. Now, did he really do that? My son seems to think it was possible, but his lawyer proved otherwise. It's all so sad. What we learn from this is that no one deserves to be on a pedastal.

jabber, my son has a friend who gets paid handsomely for touching up a major singer/actress photos. It's only a part time job for him, but it pays as much as some people's full time jobs. He knows precisely how to make her look for print so he gets all her photos and is paid for each one he touches up. What is reality these days when it comes to photography? It's whatever you want it to be.

Oh, and Michael Phelps goofed big time. I agree. I'm anxious to hear what Mom has to say about it. Probably the same thing we would say about our kid if we were her. Good kid, dumb decision that he'll have to pay the consequences.

Yonuh, I agree with you. I am not a pot user but it should be legal for so, so many reasons. An addict will find thier addiction and it can be anything, really.

The problems with pot are problems with alcohol or prescription drug abuse, (which is out of control at this time.) Pot does not make an addict.

As you know, Yonuh, there is SO much money made in pot each year that the government likes the revenue from it being illegal. It has been proven in places that pot being legal has cause fewer problems than it being illegal.

Thanks for the input.

Dancer

This country needs to get a grip! Whether pot is legalizecd or not and taxes taken, drugs, like cockaroaches, are here to stay. The best thing is to legalize pot and charge high taxes like they now charge on cigarettes. If they think by not legazlizing drugs they will disappear, think again! Being illegal makes it more fun for some eggheads and we the tax payers are paying their share too.

Dotsie,
I have no idea what is the truth and what isn't the truth!
God only knows!

oops

Evildoers do all kinds of things to destroy innocent lives.
And for the most part, many get away with it. It's scary.
It's sad!

I know several guys (all men) who smoked pot in their youth, and some still do. Some are my age, one is my older son's age (30s. It ruined their lives. The belief was that it's not addictive. Maybe not addictive physically, but psychologically it is. It definitely seems to be connected with destroying one's motivation. Granted you can also destroy your life with alcohol. Personally, I think we need to create a culture where people don't want or need to alter their consciousness. We need to create beauty. I am alcohol and drug free. I remember once someone said to me, "You mean, your consciousness is the same from when you wake up until when you go to bed at night." Interestingly, that guy quit imbibing alcohol a few years after that.

People who need medical marijuana can get it, just like we can get morphine if we need it for medical purposes. That discussion clouds the issue.

Re: our legal system -- It has some strengths to it, but one big weakness is that it's all about the letter of the law. And if the law isn't written exactly so, then you can find a loophole -- it has nothing to do with truth. The French system is about the act in context and the results of it, not whether the act was performed exactly as proscribed by law. It seems more about truth than the British (our) system.

Somebody tell me how guys like Madoff and similar jerks dupe the system for years and years, and are let run amuck. The US economy is shot; politicians are focusing on "love for sale" instead of minding the store; babies are born for fame and money; brutality and cruelty top the news. It isn't any wonder people can't face reality without being drugged out their skulls. And an innocent person reports a crime and they investigate them, instead of the evildoers doing the crime.
Liberty and justice for all? If citizens could just get their
civil rights back, it'd be nice!

Well I have to agree 100% but unfortunately with whats going on now in our nation capital its going to get far worse before it gets any better, it in fact it can ever recover from the corruption. This corruption is from the top down too and being ignored by main stream media, and yet some poor kid smokes a bong and the media want to crucify him. That just stinks!

I think it's best not to conflate issues -- i.e., yes, those who acted irresponsibly by perpetrating fraud should be penalized.

Those who need cannabis for medical reasons should be allowed to.

I agree that excess of sugar and immoderate use of other substances is harmful.

And Michael Phelps violated laws, he was smoking pot, and if companies no longer want to use him as a spokesperson because by his actions he tarnished his heroic image, then fine.

But it's also true that pot is not benign. Count me as someone who has inhaled. However I recognized the dangers and quit when I was 19. My first husband became a pot addict, and still is. His personality became altered. He lives in a fantasy world. He's not the only person I know like this. Maybe not exactly refer madness, but these lives were destroyed, and their lives touch other lives, like my children's, so it's not that they're hurting no one else. They are.

We once lived in an area in California surrounded by pot growers. They were dangerous people who had amassed a great deal of firepower, and even were reputed to have buried mines on their property.

Here's a link to a report about a UN position about the dangers of marijuana. I don't think that everyone involved in these positions are also going out and drinking until they pass out every night.

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Dangers_of_cannabis_must_not_be_0219.html

I guess we all know the bad stuff that's going on in the world.
Nobody can avoid the headlines. I was upset with myself for
posting such negative remarks. I want joy and happiness in my
life. And I'm going to make a real effort to focus on the uplifting, joyful stuff from hereon. Now let's see if I can do it.

It's like making a New Year's resolution: You think you're going
to follow through, then something sidetracks you. Pretty soon you're headed in the opposite direction. Geese!

Some new California legislator from the Bay area just proposed that we legalize pot but sell it through state-run dispensaries and just add heavy taxes. This as a solution to our massive budget deficits. We'll see if this one gets anywhere. I have to say, it's not the worst law proposed here...

It is amazing to me however that the States because of the miss spending by the Washington bureaucrats, are thinking of legalizing drugs for profit. Mind blowing stuff, how far we as a nation have fallen. Whats next, "Murder for Hire?"

The governor of NY State is talking about taxing almost everything, air will be next.

I really laughed at this news flash: Itr seems the CASINO'S want a bailout too! I thought I had heard it all until this one surfaced. Can you imagine bailing out these FAT CATS because business has slowed???

I heard an interesting discussion on the radio the other day, part of which concerned the proposed bailouts/takeovers of a number of banks. One economist said the problems, in his opinion, are far more deep-reaching and systemic than greedy bankers and Wall Street financiers. He has been keeping a chart of consumer debt -- all consumer debt -- that goes back decades.

There are two major peaks in the chart, which shows consumer debt compared to Gross Domestic Product (GDP). He said for a long time consumer debt bobbled along at around 50 percent of GDP, but from 2000-2008 it shot up like a mountain peak to 100 percent of GDP, which is a *lot* of debt. He said the banks are having the same types of problems that people are: too much sustainable debt, meaning it's everywhere. According to him, we have been financing our lifestyles on credit, and not well-thought-out credit at that. The last time, by the way, credit was that high was 1929.....

So I'm wondering if there are plenty of people who keep their debt down whether there are an equal or greater number of folks who have really been out on a limb.

IMO The darn credit card companies can be blamed for much of
the indebtedness. Nonstop, they keep sending credit cards to the young folks. And they know the temptation of that [buy now, pay later] syndrome.

I bet the odds are about 50/50 Ellemm. One half being frugal only necessary spenders and then the fly by the seat of their pants half. Whats so unfair is that our new El Presidente wants the frugal half to have to subsidize the spend thrift half.

Jabber, the 'buy now, pay later' is fun in the buy half of that premise. It's when the pay later half comes that the trouble kicks in. There are 20 somethings filing for bankruptcy and thats just ridiculous.

Is there some age limit for filing bankruptcy? Knowing that you can wind up in the soup from losing your job and losing your medical insurance, I'm not going to assume that anyone young who is bankrupt must have gotten that way through foolishness. Maybe, maybe not. Nationwide, I think about one-half of personal bankruptcies are due largely to medical bills.

Yeah, I know a lot of people have been idiots, but that was the point of my earlier post. If we have *that* much consumer debt, I'm going to guess that it's not half and half, more like 75/25. And what with layoffs and the housing crash, a lot of people are in big trouble and haven't been crazy. By the way, in my state -- maybe this is everywhere -- laid-off workers can't get COBRA health benefits if the company goes bankrupt. So there's no realistic way these folks will get health insurance anytime soon. They're not lazy or spendthrifts, just out of luck. Bad out of luck. I could see some of them going bankrupt pretty easily.

Here's a link from an article written in 2007 about the age of people who file for bankruptcy. I'm thinking it could be changing as we speak...

http://www.uscourts.gov/ttb/2007-05/aging/index.html

oops

My comments above were made strictly for the 'spend thrift' types, not those suffering from events beyond their control. God bless those poor folks, whether young, old or in between.

Looks like dear Micheal is out of the spotlight again. Old news! Hopefully this is the last he'll hear of his small indescretion and he can get back to training...

The economy is in such a mess, I think folks are focusing mostly on that. All else is secondary! IMO.

Besides, Phelps is hurting himself, undermining his own
rep; whereas, those ponzi schemers ruin thousands and thousands
of lives!

I saw him on TV last night. I enjoyed hearing him speak about doubting his future in swimming while he was on a break. I can imagine his break was quite a change because I don't think he'd ever had such a long time away from the water. I was happy to hear he's sticking with it and working towards bigger records at the next Olympics.

Ad far as his mistake, he said he won't make the same mistake twice, but he didn't say he won't make mistakes. He's human.

Bless his heart, he gave a great interview. He seemed so sincere, relaxed and straight forward. I believe he will go on to be a positive role model for many.

Michael Phelps certainly feels more scrutiny after being caught smoking pot at a party. This is good fodder for people who want to connect him with performance enhancing substances like steroids.

Clearly, Michael is a very gifted swimmer but some people don't trust him now. A few weeks ago this summer, Phelps did an interview while being completely out of breath! He also posted bad swim times. People speculate that since he knows he's being watched more closely, he's not going to take anything illegal now, but it's also very possible that he is just really out of shape! After all, he was banned from swimming! Drugs and Sports, always a controversy!

They need to leave this poor kid alone and let him get back to being the champion that he is.

We here in America are too fast to condemn someone we have looked up to, somoene who has brought us all glory by is deeds, and when they stumble and fall we need to help them up and support them not be so quick to condemn a small slip. Good grief!

He is from our home town. Our oldest went to middle school with him. HE's your typical 20-something who can't do anything other than swim and behave, or else people are all over him.

He is a role model so I believe he needs to behave. It goes with his fame.

I'm guessing everyone heard the latest. He was involved in a car accident that wasn't his fault(a gal ran a red light), but he did get fined for not showing a valid license (his was from Michigan) and for not having a MD license. Holy moly...I bet he was shaking in his boots.

He also admitted to having one beer earlier in the evening, but alcohol was not related.

I wonder if he is still planning to train for the next Olympics or if he figures he has done enough. I can't see him winning even more medals, he's older now and richer, LOL!!!!

I agree with the statement if someone falls others need to
help lift him up and not knock him down, more extensively.
After all, the kid's human. Give folks a break, why don't we!

I heard he will be training for the next Olympics. You would have thought all that swim-practice discipline would have served him out of the pool too, but I guess we all grow up at our own rate of speed. I wish him well as he matures.....

I agree Josie, but I guess that discipline is for swimming only. I think he didn't do enough goofing off as a teen so manybe it's catching up to him now.