Ben and Jerry and Sensible Iowans in Iowa City

Ice Cream Moguls Ben and Jerry will be at The Iowa Memorial Union tomorrow night beginning at 6:30 to promote Sensible Iowan's "Sensible Priorities".

We spend more on the Pentagon than the rest of the world combined spends on defense.

Yet:
* Only about two-thirds of children eligible for Head Start can be admitted to the program.
* The United States now ranks 44th in the world in infant mortality, behind all the nations of Western Europe and the industrialized Far East, behind the former Yugoslav republic of Slovenia, and behind communist Cuba.
* Although schools throughout the country are eliminating programs in music, foreign language and physical education, federal spending on education has fallen to less than 10% of the proposed 2005 Pentagon outlays.
* Sixty-one million Americans are without health care coverage during some period of any given year; half that number are uninsured for the entire year. Many of these are children.
* The Bush administration projects that the deficit for 2004 will reach $521 billion; Brookings estimates the total 2005-2009 deficit at 2.3 trillion.
* The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that trust fund programs, including Social Security and Medicare, will be in deficit by $1.2 trillion over the next 10 years and the entire federal budget deficit will total $2.75 trillion.

At Iowans Sensible Priorities, we feel it is time to get readjusted to reality. We have enough money. We can provide for the needs of our and the world's children at no additional expense to the taxpayer. We can accomplish this through:

Finally canceling Cold War weapon systems
Funding our real defense needs at 85% of the 2005 request, a level that will still exceed spending by any possible coalition of military threats by a factor of four (without counting in spending by our allies!).
Working closely with our allies so that we more equally share the burden of a safer world
As a result of the above, shifting spending to the other elements of our national well being, particularly education, health care, and national infrastructure, without increasing overall government spending. For example:
- Provide Head Start & Early Head Start for all eligible kids: $ 5 billion/year
- Provide healthcare for all uninsured US kids: $15 billion/year
- Rebuild America's schools over a 10 year period: $15 billion/year
- Achieve energy independence, with clean technology: $10 billion/year
- Double US humanitarian aid to poor countries: $20 billion/year
- Reduce debts of impoverished nations: $10 billion/year



I understand there will be free Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream and a whole lot of food for thought.