 Email this article to a friend  Printable Version FREE Email Newsletter
(NaturalNews) Super Olympian swimmer Michael Phelps has been caught in photographs depicting him partying and smoking a bong. The media is going crazy over the issue, calling Phelps a "pot head" and suggesting that his tens of millions of dollars in celebrity endorsements will now vanish. Corporate America, of course, doesn't want to associate itself with a pot smoker. So much for all the big corporate sponsorship deals.
You can see the photos of Michael Phelps expertly lighting up a bong here: http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/new...
But I part ways with the mainstream media over all this. I was far more outraged when I saw Michael Phelps plugging McDonald's restaurants than seeing him smoking a bong. His bong smoking, after all, was a private affair (at least until the photo was snapped), while his endorsement of junk food and processed foods was intentionally made public for promotional purposes.
Not that I endorse his pot smoking, either, but at least he wasn't intentionally doing it for the cameras. You'll never see a picture of the Health Ranger smoking a bong, by the way, because I've never smoked a bong in my entire life -- something that many people find impossible to believe, especially given that I support the ending of the War on Drugs in America and the legalization and regulation of medical marijuana.
But there's even more to this story: News of the World reports that there was an attempted bribe (of sorts) offered to them by the agency representing Michael Phelps, known as Octagon. There, spokesperson Clifford Bloxham reportedly offered News of the World an "extraordinary deal" to yank the story, including making Phelps their columnist for three years, getting Phelps to host events, and even finding new sponsors to advertise with the online magazine and pay them money!
In return for this special treatment, Bloxham reportedly asked News of the World to kill the story, saying, "It's seeing if something potentially very negative for Michael could turn into something very positive for the News of the World."
The sleaze machine behind PhelpsThis kind of sleazy deal-making is not going to portray Phelps in a positive light. Not only was the guy caught partying and smoking a bong, but now his agency is blatantly caught in a sleaze-slinging deal that attempted to censor the media in order to protect Phelps' dark secrets.
(This kind of thing goes on all the time, of course, with the mainstream media. Just imagine what kind of pull Big Pharma has over the press...)
This story continues below the photo. (Photo courtesy of News of the World, which deserves full credit for breaking this story (http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk).
Is Phelps smoking crack? Or is it just pot?I have previously published strong criticism of Phelps, calling him a "sellout" for serving as an ambassador of McDonald's restaurants (http://www.naturalnews.com/023930.html). In that article, you can see photos of Phelps hawking McDonald's food for children.
Nobody got outraged about that in the media, of course. To most people, pushing junk food that compromises the health of children is fine. But smoking a bong that harms no one else is an outrage! (This sort of tells you how skewed American values are these days, huh?)
Get articles like this delivered to you FREE in our popular email newsletter
|
(FREE) Thursday evening, Feb. 11 at 6pm Pacific (9pm Eastern), call in to hear the NaturalNews Talk Hour with our special guest John Roulac, Founder of Nutiva. This special show "Superfood Nutrition: Discover the NEWest Trends" will reveal delicious ways to enjoy life. Register via email to receive call-in details:
|
|
Explore NaturalPedia.com, the internet's largest natural health encyclopedia of knowledge, covering over 50,000 topics. It's free!
Visit NaturalPedia.com.
|
 NEW Product: Valley of Longevity Shampoo from the Health Ranger
• 98% Organic
• 100% Natural
• 100% Fragrance Free!
• No SLS
• No Parabens
• No synthetic chemicals
• FREE shipping in U.S. on orders over $75
Click here to read more...
|
 FREE Report: The Five Best Anti-Viral Products to Beat Influenza, Swine Flu, Bird Flu and SARS
• Top anti-viral remedies
• Where to get them now
• Four things to avoid
• Become self-reliant
• Boost your family safety
Click here to read the FREE report now.
|
|
|
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Email this article to a friend
Share this article on: 
