The whole Michael-Phelps-With-A-Bong thing got right by me (I was busy with and then missing King Willem), but when I caught up with it, yeah……. well. Big eye-roll.
The only thing “regrettable” is that he got caught on camera. This is perhaps the best — and smartest — collection of commentary on the episode.
And while we’re on the subject of dumbass laws (which, yes, we were ….), this also got by me: a nice essay by Jacob Grier in Doublethink.
I don’t smoke anymore but god damnit it pisses me off when governments tell business owners they can’t allow smokers anymore. (Which my city council did here in Ames some years back. I never had any problem with places where lots of people smoked.
Or, rather, I solved the problem: I just didn’t GO to them. Problem solved….)
As I said to the city council when it contemplated this ordinance, which it did on grounds of “public health”: What’s next? Someone’s gonna complain that they’re allergic to grass and so you’re gonna pave over all the public parks so that he/she won’t suffer the “health” consequences of living in a town with grass?
Maureen Ogle 
Thanks for linking to that. It was published on MLK day right before the inauguration, so it got totally ignored when it came out! Better than my friend who published a renewable energy op/ed on September 11, 2001 though.
I liked Andrew Sullivan’s take, too:”Yes, Michael Phelps took a few hits from a bong at a party. He also threw back a great deal of alcohol, maybe made a few passes at a few girls and bonded with a few dudes. This is news?”And yet this absurd ritual takes place in which Phelps has to pretend he did something dreadful and we all have to tut-tut and frown and furrow our brows, and the sponsors cluck and the press preens – while the only conceivable news is that a 23 year-old had a good time at a party, breaking no professional rules since he was not competing when he was goofing off.”And, seriously, does anyone think that smoking pot would give him an unfair advantage in the pool? Please. When on earth are we going to grow up as a culture?”