Originally Posted By WDWdreamin LOL I thought Phelps was going to lose his Speedo gig because Gary Hall lost his in 1998 for smoking pot, but I guess not.
Originally Posted By Sara Tonin <You're going to compare one guy smoking pot for fun, to movements against unfair taxation and segregation? I don't think we're even talking the same ball park here. Those people, in my opinion, had very good reasons for ignoring the laws they did. And I don't think civil disobedience just for the sake of it has been or is what our country is grounded on.> My point being...that this is a country founded on civil disobedience and we have that history. And there are people who use this substance as a medicine or a religious sacrament, and had there not been activists pushing the envelope the number of people who need this as a medicine are not great enough to influence legislators into passing laws regulating medical marijuana. I don't think this guy was thinking about how he was committing civil disobedience, but he was disregarding a stupid law and making conversations like this one possible. And that last part...about civil disobedience...George Washington led an entire army committing civil disobedience if the French had not come in to save our bacon and we had lost that war Washington and every member of the army he led would most probably have been hanged. And I'm sure King George thought they were just criminals who didn't want to pay their taxes. If a law is unjust it must be challenged.
Originally Posted By Sara Tonin I feel like I just flashed WE...I try not to frequent the insane playground that is WE.
Originally Posted By Labuda "You see unlike alcoholic drugs one usually needs to put in a few sessions of pot before feeling high. One guy told me it took him 10+ times before he felt it. It took me about 5." Call me a one-hit wonder. You must be hanging with folks that smoke schwag.
Originally Posted By avromark Gosh you guys make me feel like I'm Amish or a Saint or something. I didn't even have my first drink until College. I haven't ever lit up a cigarette or joint. I do use profanity on occasion though. Drat nab it. However my moral compass doesn't make me pious or anything. Just because I don't smoke I don't think less of those who smoke (Well unless they like blow smoke into my face, which is a different story from smoking beside me)
Originally Posted By Inspector 57 I have no use for Michael Phelps. For one thing, who CARES how fast he can swim from one end of a pool to the other? Unless he's planning a career as a lifeguard, it's a completely irrelevant and useless ability. Secondly, the guy is a jerk. His classroom comments and out-of-class behavior while he was a student here provided plenty of evidence of that. Thirdly, can you name another host of SNL who was more awkward and unskilled than Phelps? He's yet another rich white American kid whose family could afford to give him the training that would allow him to win. And yet... I generally wouldn't lambaste anyone for smoking pot. BFD. Been there, done that. Have friends who do it. Yada, yada, yada. Which leaves me in an awkward position. Do I want the obnoxious jock who has so obviously solicited worship as an All-American Hero to go down in flames over this one? Or do I want to say that I don't think this should be any more a cause for him to lose sponsorships than was his previous DUI conviction -- which was apparently irrelevant to all his current flag-waving sponsors?
Originally Posted By gottaluvdavillains <,He's yet another rich white American kid whose family could afford to give him the training that would allow him to win>> I thought his parents were civil servants.. A cop and a school principal or teacher. And his dad left when he was a kid - so he was more or less raised by a single parent. I personally don't see him as anything different than any other olympian or sports person. They all seem to get away with these things... And it doesn't matter what color their skin. Look at Football, Baseball, Basketball, Soccer - black, white, whatever - they all mess up and come out smelling like a peach!
Originally Posted By Inspector 57 Hmmmmm. Interesting. Then I wonder who paid for his UM education and all those years of private coaching.
Originally Posted By dshyates Yep his rich parents bought 16 world records, 14 Olympic gold medals, and 2 Olympic bronze. Yep if all those other athletes had the high dollar coaches that Phelps rich white folks could buy They woulda beat him. What a ridiculous position. Inspector I have to ask what it is that YOU do? I guess something much more valuable to society than a swimmwer. Heart surgeon possibly?
Originally Posted By Inspector 57 <<Yep if all those other athletes had the high dollar coaches that Phelps rich white folks could buy They woulda beat him. What a ridiculous position.>> Ummmmm... Sorry, dshyates. Sports is an industry. And the most hooked-up win. The "ridiculous" position here is the one that holds that kids make it to the Olympics because of their own dedication and personal integrity and devotion to their deceased grandmas. The truth is that Olympic contenders train with private coaches. Phelps sure did. I just don't know who paid for it. <<Inspector I have to ask what it is that YOU do? I guess something much more valuable to society than a swimmwer. Heart surgeon possibly?>> You know what? If I were the check-out person at TJMaxx, I would be doing something more valuable for society than Michael Phelps has done so far.
Originally Posted By gottaluvdavillains Considering he was in the 2000 and 2004 olympics - Would thinking he may have gotten a swimming scholarship be too far out there - Also he set records in 2004 and had gotten some endorsements at the age of 19 - so maybe he paid for it.
Originally Posted By dshyates And inspector, you don't beat olympic/world recods by 4 full secs by coaching. And phelps swimming made more money for NBC everytime he jumped in the water than a TJMaxx cashier will make for them in their entire life. That money paid the sallaries of a lot of folks. Or 1 midlevel VP.
Originally Posted By gottaluvdavillains In 2000 he was 15 - He qualified buy came in 5th in the butterfly -
Originally Posted By TDLFAN >>I notice you left out cleaning up the vomit of your customers.<< Yes, that's what it means to be a professional and I am getting paid for it. But do you pay your wife when she cleans up after your beer drinking bindges? I am man enough to admit what my profession entails, but are you man enough to admit your problems? No, you are not. But enough with you, as I do not want to bring myself down to your backstabbing levels again. Insult me all you want, so our mutual friends can continue to see you for what you really are.
Originally Posted By Susan of Vacaville Road trip, I am so with you on the "list" of banned substances. I didn't see any smoke in the "tube" but he did admit to it. DARN! I just wish this didn't happen. I have a past like obviously a lot of you do ; ) I can't judge; yet...darn it Michael!
Originally Posted By mele I thought he was giving you credit for cleaning up vomit...not making fun of you for it.
Originally Posted By gottaluvdavillains <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/swimming/4528272/Michael-Phelps-may-skip-2012-Games-after-Bong-gate.html" target="_blank">http://www.telegraph.co.uk/spo...ate.html</a> He has not admitted or denied smoking...He has also not lost his sponsers so far... <Phelps has not admitted to smoking marijuana but also did not deny the authenticity of the photo, taken during a party last November at the University of South Carolina. When asked whether he regularly smoked the illegal drug, Phelps said he did not. "This was stupid, and I know this won't happen again," Phelps said. "It's obviously bad judgment, and it's something I'm not proud of at all. "I will say that with the mistakes that I've made in my life, I've learned from them. Every one of them. And I've become a better person. That's what I plan to do from here." Swimming's governing body, FINA, announced yesterday that they had accepted an apology from Phelps and the majority of his sponsors have vowed to stand by him.>
