North Bridge Alliance for Democracy

Please forward widely!

Date and place set for local member meeting,
but we need a time, and you!

At the last North Bridge Alliance for Democracy/BCA meeting we set a date for our regional member meeting. It will be held on Sunday, November 8, at Mary and Bob White's house, 221 Monsen Road, Concord. Mark your calendars!

Now we'd like your feedback on what time you'd like to get together. Plan on three to four hours for a meeting, pot-luck meal, and some socializing. Would your ideal start time be 3 p.m. or 5 p.m.? Later? Please email Barbara in the AfD office (afd@thealliancefordemocracy.org) with your preference, and with any questions. We'll try to accomodate as many people as possible!

As you remember, this summer, AfD national members voted to give the National Council the option of organizing decentralized local or regional member meetings as an alternative to a single, centralized national convention. Members agreed that local meetings would be more accessible and environmentally responsible, and several are planned so far. For times and places of other regional or local member meetings, see this post on the Alliance for Democracy blog: http://afd-e-news.blogspot.com/2009/09/latest-on-our-regional-meetings-october.html. Check back to see report-backs through October and November.

We hope to see you on the 8th! More information on agendas & speakers coming soon!

Upcoming Events:

Thursday, October 8, 7 p.m.
Friends of Ashland Public Library Documentary Film & Discussion Series presents "Money-Driven Medicine"
Ashland Public Library, 66 Front Street, Ashland

In Money-Driven Medicine, Dr. Donald Berwick, president of the Institute for Health Care Improvement, explains: "We get more care, but not better care." Our fee-for-service system channels resources into the high-tech, high-cost "rescue care" patients need after they become critically ill, while it skimps on the preventive primary care which could keep them out of the hospital in the first place. As a consequence, emergency rooms overflow while family practitioners are becoming an endangered species. Medical students explain that these perverse pay incentives drive them away from primary care into higher-paying specialties.

Medical ethicist Larry Churchill doesn't mince words: "The current medical care system is not designed to meet the health needs of the population. It is designed to protect the interests of insurance companies, pharmaceutical firms, and to a certain extent organized medicine. It is designed to turn a profit. It is designed to meet the needs of the people in power."

Learn more about the "medical-industrial complex" and how to take control of American medicine back from profiteers. Universal coverage is just the first step in a long and arduous battle for comprehensive reform!

Sunday, October 18, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
2009 Massachusetts Relocalization Conference
Reggie Lewis Center, 1350 Tremont Street, Roxbury, MA

A day-long conference on relocalization featuring speakers, workshops, discussion, local food, music and action. Speakers include Mel King, Frances Moore Lappe, and Bill McKibben. Alliance members are organizing and facilitating a workshop on democracy and localization. Pre-registration strongly recommended; register online at www.relocalizemassachusetts.org