U.S. newspapers sometimes print what they call the total death count from one or more of our wars, and all the dead who are listed are Americans. They aren't all the Americans. They don't include contractors or suicides or various other categories of dead Americans. They certainly don't include those who died for lack of basic needs while we dumped half of our public treasury into wars.

But they also don't include anyone from that 95% of humanity that's not from the United States. In our current wars, well over 95% of the dead, even in the short-term, are from the countries where the wars are fought. Some get labeled combatants and some civilians, but they're all left out of most body counts, and when they are counted they are counted low. Our government pretends not to count them at all, and only thanks to Wikileaks do we know otherwise, that the military has counted some of them.

Editor Benjamin Marrison
Columbus Dispatch
34 S. 3rd St.
Columbus, OH 43215

Dear Mr. Marrison:

In your subtle way, your lead editorial on Sunday April 15 was the most disingenuous yet: “Kasich and the House put Ohio on a sustainable path after predecessors failed” is a cruel joke.
· Bill Harris led the Senate in blocking Strickland and Budish from most of their good solution to budget problems.
· It would have been a waste of time and effort to pass more Bills in the House which would have been blocked in the Senate. Several were blocked.
· The “Jobs Budget” and SB 5 will cause losses by the state and sub state governments at all levels. · Please read the enclosed letter for evidence that Republicans caused the “mess we are in”:
1. The Republican Income Tax cut of 2005, which favored those with high income accounts for $ 1 billion per year.

NRC Licensing Board Recognizes Standing, Grants Hearing on Renewable Alternatives and Severe Accident Risks

Toledo, Ohio--On March 1st in a Port Clinton courtroom, the resources of First Energy, one of the largest power companies in the country, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) were arrayed against four citizen groups. First Energy had approximately a dozen lawyers and support staff; the NRC had about half a dozen, while the citizen groups had one lawyer who was a volunteer. It was clearly a case of David versus Goliath, and, in the first round anyway, David won a split decision.

At issue is First Energy's application to extend the operation of the Davis-Besse nuclear power plant twenty years beyond its designed lifespan, from 2017 to 2037. The four citizen groups are: Beyond Nuclear, a Washington D.C. based non-profit; the Ohio Green Party; Don't Waste Michigan; and the Citizens' Environment Alliance of Southwest Ontario. They claim that the plant, which already has a long history of accidents, leaks, and near misses can't be safely run for another twenty years, and that wind and solar power are much more practical alternatives.