What was supposed to be a record-setting presidential debate as far as television viewers goes, turned out to be an averagely-viewed one filled with many familiar themes.

All the negative economic “news,” (not to be confused with the actual economic situation) and all the talk about high gas prices and Big Oil and its outrageous profits got me thinking about some of the other “Bigs” that are out there selling stuff we have to have and making way too much money. I don’t know if you’ve ever thought much about it, but there’s one of those that is an order of magnitude worse than Big Oil. I’m talking about Big Software.

Many cities around the Valley have experienced budget problems in the past. Some more recently than others…it’s nothing new.

Every time I read about the housing “crisis” there is always the use of the word “greed” worked into the story, often times more than once. It’s a word with a lot of emotional appeal. That’s why certain politicians and media like to use it so much. What “greed” means, according to the Webster’s Deluxe Unabridged Dictionary, is a “desire for more than one needs or deserves.” The dictionary doesn’t specify who gets to determine need or deserts. So, what “greed” seems to mean as a practical matter is “anyone who already has more than I do (or when politicians use it, more than you do), and wants more. The upshot is, “greed” means a lot of different things, depending on who’s talking.

My name is William Lewis, a reporter who has just arrived from Pasco, Wash. I will be the Review Independent’s new sports writer and will cover youth sports in the communities of Zillah, Toppenish, Granger, White Swan and Wapato.

This week marks the beginning of Hispanic Heritage Month. Combine that with the obvious large Latino population of the Yakima Valley…and the fact that I’m Hispanic too, it got me thinking about what kind of role the nation’s Hispanic population will have on the upcoming presidential election, and local elections as well.

Remember a couple of months ago when I was talking about the incomprehensibility of a trillion dollars? Well I just got a press release from a guy named Don Brunell, who is the president of the Association of Washington Businesses. The headline read, “America’s Federal Debt is Beyond Comprehension.” You’ll never guess how much that debt is, and even if you did guess right, it wouldn’t mean much. Try $53 trillion. That’s how much the Government Accountability Office claims it will take to make good on the promise made to all the folks who will be retiring over the next decade and a half, for their retirement and health care costs, plus a few other incidental debts the government has racked up.

It’s been a violent weekend here in the Valley. Not necessarily in our particular neck of the woods, but just to south and north of the Review Independent’s circulation area.

I became convinced a long time ago that if you want to know what someone really believes, pay more attention to what they do than what they say. The truth of that was demonstrated twice just recently, and both instances, coincidentally, involved painting and churches. They both also particularly appealed to me because they were great examples of the good that can come when people aren’t content to sit around and wait for government to solve their problems and instead take the initiative to make things better. And by the way, no government grants were required.

Yakima County voters were plentiful and decisive about which two of the four candidates running for County Commissioner (District 2) they preferred the most during the Aug. 19th primary. By the end of the night, it was clear that incumbent Ron Gamache (with 19 percent of the vote) would not be getting elected to a third term. The citizen’s of Yakima County had made it clear that they want change.