I don't know about your anecdotes (which (damn!) sound pretty harsh), but there are several levels of official canon created and maintained by LucasFilm. Some say George only considers the highest level (G-Canon, or the movies, dramas, and novels) canon. Here is the list:

G-Canon-see above

T-Canon-Clone Wars series

C-Canon-currently accepted EU books

S-Canon-non-canon works with canon elements to them (ie. Star Wars Galaxies)

N-Canon-non-canon: things that either were never canon or booted from canon later on (like the OOT... grr)

The levels exist because of the strong possibility of contradictions. If there ever is, the higher-level canon takes priority.