Free Republic

MOSCOW (Mineweb.com) -- It is almost forty years since those fine falsettos, the Bee Gees, put their pop classic, “Massachusetts”, on the top of the charts. They had no idea that their lyrics might become the alleged plot of a scheme by a trio of Ukrainian metal men to steal hundreds of millions of dollars in proceeds from the processing of manganese ore, and the sale of ferromanganese, ferrosilicon, and silicomanganese to steelmakers around the world. “And the lights all went out in Massachusetts,” sang Robin and Barry Gibb. “They brought me back to see my way with you.” On...

Springfield and its surrounding cities and towns lost a collective 5,600 jobs in July, a further sign of a stalling economy. “It’s a continuous story. There is just too little demand for goods and services,” said Karl J. Petrick, an assistant professor of economics at Western New England University. “Probably the best we can hope for is slow growth. The best we can hope for is to just narrowly avoid sliding back into recession.” Springfield’s unemployment rate rose last month to 12.5 percent from 12 percent recorded in June, according to the state Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development...

A dire warning from Bay State medical-device companies that a new sales tax in the federal health-care law could force their plants - and thousands of jobs - out of the country has rattled Gov. Deval Patrick, a staunch backer of the law and pal President Obama. “This bill is a jobs killer,” said Ernie Whiton, chief financial officer of Chelmsford’s Zoll Medical Corp., which employs about 650 people in Massachusetts. Many of those employees work in Zoll’s local manufacturing facility making heart defibrillators. “We could be forced to (move) manufacturing overseas if we can’t pass along these costs to...

Which news story did you find more shocking: A 41-year-old New Hampshire teacher texting nude photos of herself to students, or 93 Rhode Island teachers and staff getting fired for doing such a lousy job? “Touchy” teachers with 14-year-old Facebook friends? Been there, done that. But educators fired, merely for failing to educate? Now that’s new. Not only did the superintendent of Central Falls High fire everyone from the principal to the parking lot attendant, but she got a shout-out from President Obama himself. A Democrat praising the mass firing of unionized teachers? That’s like Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad cheering on...

Moderated by the hyper partisan David Gergen, the inspiring Scott Brown mopped the floor with repugnant democrat hack, Martha Coakley, his opponent for the Massachusetts senate seat once owned by Ted Kennedy Kopechne. Exposing the astounding arrogance of the democrats, Gergen asked Brown and Coakley if they would stop the health care bill so beloved by Kennedy. Brown delivered a response that inflicted incalcuable damage to the democrat party in its current constitution: “With all due respect,’ said Brown, ‘it’s not the Kennedy’s seat, and it’s not the Democrats’ seat, it is the people’s seat.’ You could hear the roars...

Massachusetts' workforce is shrinking at an alarming rate, as thousands of low-skilled men drop out of the labor force because they cannot find jobs or are too discouraged to keep looking, according to a new report. The report, released today by the Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth, warns that as the state expands rapidly in high-tech and life sciences industries, a significant segment of its population is being left behind. Between 2003 and 2005, Massachusetts was the only state to lose workers for three consecutive years, according to the report. During that period, the nation's workforce grew 3.1 percent,...

BOSTON New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island were the only states to lose population from 2004 to 2005. The U-S Census reports that New York lost 26-thousand residents, a tenth-of-a-percent decrease. Massachusetts also had a tenth-of-a-percent decline, losing 8-thousand. Rhode Island lost about 3-thousand, or three-tenths of a percent. Experts attribute the trend to soaring housing costs, a stagnant job market and the arrival of fewer immigrants. Most of the states with the largest population growth are in the South and West. Nevada, with an estimated population increase of 3-point-5 percent, was the fastest growing state for the 19th consecutive...

In November, the Massachusetts House of Representatives moved favorably from committee H. 2125, which brings the state one step closer to its goal of the confiscation of privately owned firearms. Under this bill, all private owners of handguns would have to register each handgun with the police and have a separate $ 250,000 liability insurance policy on each handgun or have that handgun confiscated (insurance professionals: care to estimate the cost of such a policy to the holder?). Each such insurance policy must cover the potential theft and unlawful use of the gun. If the policy is inadequate to cover...

WASHINGTON - It's a New England drought second only to the Curse of the Bambino. It has been 43 years since a candidate from the Northeast won the presidency. That was Democrat John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts. Since then, just one — former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis — has won his party's presidential nomination. The Democrat lost in 1988 to George H.W. Bush. The region's White House streak still falls far short of the 85 years since the Boston Red Sox last captured the World Series and the 83 years since the team invoked the curse by trading Babe Ruth...