Bedford Archives - Page 2 of 2

Jennifer Horn to Speak to Bedford Republican Committee

September 26, 2018March 6, 2013 Steve MacDonald

For those of you in my neck of Hillsborough County, or points near and far with the interest, NH-GOP Chair Jennifer Horn will be speaking to the Bedford Republican Town Committee on Tuesday March 12th at 7:30. The meeting will be held at the Bedford Town Library, 3 Meetinghouse Road, Bedford. This might be a … Read more

Bedford School District Book Woes Re-ignite

September 26, 2018February 15, 2011 Steve MacDonald

Warning. Strong Sexual Content.

The Bedford Public School system is back in the news again. Another book has popped up in the curriculum that is questioning the standards of the towns (cough-cough) educational experts. This time is it ‘Water For Elephants.”

This book appears to have some very interesting subject matter, which someone in the Bedford District finds suitable for students to read. I’ll let you be the judge. (This is just a sample, and relates to the “warning” strong sexual content” portion.)

(Warning! By jumping to the conclusion of this post you accept all responsibility for the content you are about to read.)

Nickel And Dimed Is Out

September 26, 2018January 12, 2011 Steve MacDonald

Once you get past the misleading headline from this morning’s Union Leader, ‘Nickel and Dimed’ Banned in Bedford, (it was not banned form Bedford, it was removed from the public school finance class curriculum) you will find that while the book is out, some of the stupidity remains.

Whose Jounal Is It?

September 26, 2018January 3, 2011 Steve MacDonald

This weeks Merrimack Journal was actually the Bedford Journal. They called it the ‘New Years’ Journal, but with a few minor exceptions, everyting in it was about Bedford. The letters to the editor were from Bedford. The news and sports…Bedford.

How About Some Irony?

September 26, 2018December 21, 2010 Steve MacDonald

The Bedford school board has announced staff and program cuts to address problems with the next school budget. They are looking to trim $750,000.00 off the bottom line, $200,000.00 of which–it has been proposed–will come from eliminating full time teaching positions.

Revisiting Censorship In the Wake Of “Nickel And Dimed..”

September 26, 2018December 19, 2010 Steve MacDonald

The dust up in Bedford over the Book ‘Nickel and Dimed’ continues to linger in the local news–which reminded me that back in 2009 we had a similar situation in the sleepy town of Litchfield where comments by locals and students emerged in defense of the material on the grounds that its exclusion would constitute book banning and or violate protected free speech rights.

This was (and is), of course, total rubbish.

So I wrote at least two articles on the subject back in 2009, this one–from June 20, 2009 on the bankrupt educational-industrial culture that leads to this kind of moronic nonsense, and then a followup on censorship in general after a local ACLU lawyer felt the need to add her two cents.

What follows on the jump is my response, the article from July 5th, 2009–originally posted at NH Insider. I believe it (and my comments in the previously mentioned post here) are equally relevant to what has transpired in Bedford over the past few weeks, and demonstrates a lack of understanding by the public (and progressives) of the differences between first amendment speech and censorship. That this keeps coming up in the context of the public school curriculum is nothing short of ironic.