Whatever your particular creed or faith, most people regard this time of year as a season of peace — a time to reflect, count blessings, maybe offer a little prayer for better days ahead. We suffer the coarseness and indignities of a saturated consumer market to enjoy the time with family and friends, and work for better days in our communities. That is why it was so appalling that a recent trip to an area Sam’s Club for supplies for a holiday party became an occasion for outrage. Sam’s Club (a division of Walmart) often has vendors set up special displays of merchandise that might not be part of its regular lineup of products. Megawine Inc., a liquor distributor from Van Nuys, had an ent

Anyone looking for a clean kill in tonight’s gubernatorial debate between Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman probably walked away a little disappointed. If you were hoping for another Jan Brewer moment in which a candidate seems to simply and completely lose it on camera, again, disappointment reigns. But if you were looking for a reasonably thoughtful discussion of many of the real issues facing California, there was much to appreciate in the debate staged at the Mondavi Center at University of California, Davis. Three local journalists – Amy Chance of the Sacramento Bee, Marianne Russ of Capital Public Radio and Kevin Riggs of KCRA Channel 3 – led the candidates through ten questions ranging f