On Lynn Valley’s Varley trail, Uncle Weed discourses on fascist sponsors and greedy PR hacks reacting to young Mr. Phelps’ situation, plus talk of value of art vs. artist and listener email about parenting advice, blind shopping cart incidents, and a situation with a Briton arrested and incarcerated in Japan plus a spiel on Group of Seven artist Frederick Varley.

Jump in the water for Riverside Tokes for Phelps on the Varley Trail – Choogle On #78 (.mp3, 30:14, 28MB)

Thanks

Chip in NH for editing/production

Bonus

Pro-pot group smokes Kellogg for axing Phelps – Olympic Sports
Bursting with indignation, legions of legalize-marijuana advocates are urging a boycott of Kellogg Co., including all of its popular munchies, for deciding to cut ties with Olympic hero Michael Phelps after he was photographed with a pot pipe.

Phelps acknowledges photo showing Olympic swimming star smoking from marijuana pipe – ESPN
While the newspaper did not specifically allege that Phelps was smoking pot, it did say the pipe is generally used for that purpose and anonymously quoted a partygoer who said the Olympic champion was “out of control from the moment he got there.”

Flashback: Phelps’ 2004 DUI didn’t cost him Kellogg’s endorsement | NORML’s Daily Audio Stash
Michael Phelps was convicted of illegally using a hard drug (alcohol is a hard, though legal, drug and Phelps was 19, not legal age to use it) when caught driving a car, running a stop sign, and pushing the legal limit for intoxication. Michael Phelps could’ve caused a serious accident and injured or killed himself and others. Kellogg’s didn’t seem to have a problem with that being “not consistent with the image of Kellogg”.

John Feinstein – Phelps Made a Mistake, But His Handlers Made It Worse – washingtonpost.com
Michael Phelps screwed up. Of that, there is no doubt. He went to a party in Columbia, S.C. in November and got caught on camera taking a hit on a marijuana bong. Someone sold the photo to a London tabloid and it ran in the newspaper this past Sunday.

Michael Phelps Should Not Be Sorry | The Cosmic Tap
Michael Phelps has nothing to apologize for. I understand the reality he faces, however, and why he has to say what he said. But let’s go beyond the breathless theatrics and think about the core issue. “He broke the law,” the pundits are saying, as if that is necessarily the end of the conversation. Sorry, but Phelps was not wrong; our marijuana laws are wrong. Really wrong.

Why Michael Phelps can’t bring his bong to the pool. – By Brian Palmer – Slate Magazine
On Sunday, a British tabloid published a November photo of Olympic champion Michael Phelps smoking a bong. Fortunately for Phelps, the World Anti-Doping Agency prohibits marijuana only during competition periods. How does a drug make it onto WADA’s list of…

Phelps is now the top Olympian of all time. Here’s what it takes …
US swimmer Michael Phelps made history yesterday when he scooped a record-breaking 11th Olympic gold medal. He has now topped the podium five times in Beijing. After his latest victory, he revealed the secret behind his six-days-a-week, five-hours-a-day training regime: an extraordinary 12,000-calorie daily diet, six times the intake of a normal adult male.

Michael Phelps’ marijuana use puts focus on debate over the drug – Los Angeles Times

America’s narcotic of choice – Salon.com
The Michael Phelps saga is yet another example of our addiction to feigned outrage.

Michael Phelps: Puppy torturer! – Salon.com
Come on, people, all he did was smoke some weed, like Bill Gates, Barack Obama and countless other overachievers.

Phelps Marijuana Arrests By Sheriff Leon Lott Columbia South Carolina -WSI 10 News
The Richland County Sheriff’s Department has been taking a lot of heat from people in this country and all over the world. They want to know why Sheriff Leon Lott is going after Michael Phelps. Many are saying the sheriff should concentrate on more serious crimes, or at the very least, not focus solely on the Olympic champion when there were others at the party who were also breaking the law.

Olympian Michael Phelps dropped from Vancouver motivational event – Georgia Straight

If you’ve been counting down the days to the arrival of Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps in Vancouver, you’re in for a big disappointment.

Phelps was slotted to speak at GM Place on March 6 for a motivational leadership event organized by Toronto-based promoter Power Within Inc., but was pulled from the line-up due to the recent controversy caused by surfaced pictures of him smoking a bong at a college party.

…

According to a statement released by Power Within Inc., the change in programming was “due to widely publicized alleged use of marijuana by Michael Phelps.” Numerous calls made by the Straight to Power Within Inc. were not returned.

Comment to article:

for anyone that thinks this as absurd as I do, please pass your frustration along to Power Within. If they don’t hear people’s displeasure with this behaviour they’re likely to feel it’s condoned.- http://www.powerwithin.com/4105/contact_information.asp – Submitted by unclespeedo on Wed, 2009-02-25 13:57.

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