Pure White Eugene

Jim, Will, Ian, Regina, Bill, Lynne, Barbara, Bobb, Glenn, Edgar, Ray, Steve L, Jeanette, Bob Birchard, Andy

After Libby ended a long absence last week, it was Ian's turn to return, though after not so long. He had been at the Oregon Festival of American Music in Eugene for two weeks, where he reported a tempestuous time with the Festival's director, and with the airline that was supposed to be flying him back from San Francisco to Burbank.
"Eugene is pure white," said Ian. "Not a black in sight, apart from one of our singers, just lots of people with very white teeth and skin."
Ian had seen a stage performance Wizard of Oz in Oregon and the Conrads conversation turned to the back story of the characters that were well known to people going to see the movie. The tin man for example had really been an accident prone chap who kept chopping bits of his body off while working in the woods and had them replaced by tin parts. Like so many fictional characters, it was based on a not-very-far-removed true-life original.
Ian was due back on Sunday night, but didn't reach Burbank until 11 o'clock on Monday morning. A cancelled flight meant a night in a dingy hotel - why do the airlines think they are enhancing their reputations by treating customers so badly?
While he was in foreign parts, Ian bought the New York Times in Starbucks every morning and found what many of us have long thought: that it is far superior to the LA Times, which once saw itself as a rival. Sadly the LAT under the odious Sam Zell is sinking fast and becoming little more than the parish gazette for a fairly large provincial city. It is now absurd to compare it with any of the major international titles such as the London Times, Figaro, Le Monde, the Washington Post or the Wall Street Journal. The NYT is infinitely more professional, and if it weren't for its continuing obligation to be NY-centered it could easily became a proper US national paper.
Lynne and Will had been enthralled by a well written story in LA weekly about two elderly women in the upscale Pacific Palisades who fed rats and added an estimated half a milion to LA's Westside rat population. Despite this, the authorities did nothing about it. Lynne and Will, both vegetarians, wondered if the pair could be such animal lovers becuase the very long piece said that, while the twins didn't want to kill animals, they loved eating chicken. This says much about the ability of the butchery industry to divorce the meat they sell from the cuddly animals that provide the raw material.
The internet is creeping up on all the mainstream press, newspapers and local weeklies alike. Which is why, as Barbara pointed out, the Chinese authorities employ 60,000 functionaries to police the level of internet access available to its 1.3 billion citizens.
It is surely a losing battle for the bureaucrats, hampered even further by their government's decision to host the Olympic Games. Apart from bringing thousands of journalists to Beijing, such a huge event fosters the trend towards the interconnected world. Censorship is getting harder and harder. While this has been a boon for the porn industry, it also means that free speech is freer.
Such freedom could yet put Paris Hilton in the White House as the first female US president, after her elegant political broadcast replying to John McCain's unwise decision to drag her into his tetchy battle with Barack Obama.
People in the US are so sick of the two main parties and the process which produces such dull candidates that Paris Hilton might stand a very strong chance in November as a protest candidate. Pity that US presidents have to be 35: she is only 27, and it is a little late to change the rules in time for this year's vote.
A mini-tradition which has sprung up on Monday nights recently is to celebrate events and anniversaries with cake. This time it was the publication of Jim's masterly book on Angel's Flight, which was marked with chocolate cake all round.
Who's next?

CAUGHT ON THE BREEZE
I don't make mistakes. I thought I did once, but I was wrong
Magic Moments covered the whole of Perry Como's range
If I wasn't so perfect I'd be perfect
You can't give Ian anything, he has everything
Why do we have two of most things but only one heart and liver?
I always thought Malaysia was a disease.