Sure, I'm skeptical of the effectiveness of having the mayor of little old Eugene go to China, but then this article doesn't make clear any specific reasons for her invitation and what she's supposed to do while there.

I simply don't buy your last sentence though. If she is so bad a mayor, if she is so disliked ... why was she elected 3 times, why do many things in Eugene seem to be going quite well thank you (IMO, of course), and why did the "course changer" in this last mayoral election get 37.5% of the vote, despite his very clever use of the whole South Willamette zoning thing leading up to the election?

As for global warming, maybe I should take back what I said before, having read the letters to the editor today.