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With the entire political world engaged in a guessing game about what is going to happen in the Massachusetts Senate special election between state Attorney General Martha Coakley (D) and state Sen. Scott Brown (R). So, we thought we'd give Fixistas a chance to sound off about where the race will end up when all the money is spent (hopefully), all the hands are shaken and all the babies are kissed

AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA Dear President Obama You are the thirteenth President under whom I have lived and unlike any of the others, you truely scare me. You scare me because after months of exposure, I know nothing about you. You scare me because I do not know how you paid for your expensive Ivy League education and your upscale lifestyle and housing with no visible signs of support. You scare me because you did not spend your formative years of youth growing up in America and culturally you are not an American. You scare me because you...

Those concerned that the United States is in danger of losing cultural strengths will enjoy this quick clip of Actor Peter Sherayko reading a poem about western virtue at the Santa Barbara tea party rally last weekend. http://tinyurl.com/mhhyx8

Republican US presidential hopeful John McCain has accused rival Barack Obama of offering oil companies tax breaks, at a rally in Defiance, Ohio. The attack came as oil company Exxon Mobil reported record profits, and new figures showed US GDP shrinking. At his Ohio campaign event, Mr McCain criticised Mr Obama for voting in favour of a 2005 energy bill, which contained tax breaks for oil companies. "Senator Obama voted for billions in corporate giveaways to the oil companies," he said. "I voted against it."

MEDIA, Pa. -- With Sarah Palin in a red leather jacket and American Chopper dude Paul Teutul on stage, the McCain campaign took on a born-to-be-wild vibe a rally at the courthouse square here. Palin introduced Teutul -- founder of the Orange County Choppers and the host, with his sons, of American Chopper on the TLC channel -- as he rode onstage on a white chopper, a type of motorcycle, dedicated to POW-MIAs. Teutul noted McCain's years in a Vietnamese prison.

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho, March 27 (UPI) -- Two U.S. Department of Energy scientists in Idaho say they have adapted technology from Nintendo's Wii remote to control a mine-clearing robot. David Bruemmer and Douglas Few said they adapted the video game controller, which utilizes wireless technology that detects three dimensional movement, to control Packbot, a robot with bomb disposal capability, Sky News reported Thursday. The scientists said operating the Wii remote is more instinctive than traditional controllers, which can take too much of the user's attention and prevent the operator from concentrating fully on data gathered by the machine. The pair...

LONDON, March 28 (UPI) -- BAE Systems has picked Northrop Grumman to make Platform Management Systems for a British submarine. Northrop Grumman said in a statement Thursday that BAE Systems had picked its Sperry Marine business unit based in Charlottesville, Va., to produce the PMS for the next Royal Navy Astute-Class nuclear submarine, HMS Audacious. The PMS will direct and oversee platform machinery and onboard systems. Northrop Grumman said that by using off-the-shelf -- COTS -- hardware and software, the PMS for Astute Boat 4 will significantly cut down costs and reduce program risk. The company said the Sperry Marine...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A seagoing glider that uses heat energy from the ocean to propel itself is the first "green" robot to explore the undersea environment, U.S. researchers said on Thursday. They said the glider had crisscrossed the 13,000-feet-(4,000-meter-)deep Virgin Islands Basin between St. Thomas and St. Croix more than 20 times since it was launched in December. And it could keep going on its own for another six months, the team at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Webb Research Corporation in Falmouth, Massachusetts, predicted. "Gliders can be put to work on tasks that humans wouldn't want to do...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A new detector combines a laser with a mass spectrometer to provide on-the-spot analysis that researchers hope will have applications ranging from evaluating a tumor as it is removed to quickly detecting explosives in luggage. The laser vaporizes tiny samples that can be instantly sampled and analyzed by the spectrometer, and can be used even on living organisms, the team at George Washington University said on Thursday. "We are talking about less than a second for an analysis," Akos Vertes, a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at George Washington University, said in an interview. Vertes and...

LONDON (Reuters) - Nearly half of British men surveyed would give up sex for six months in return for a 50-inch plasma TV, a survey -- perhaps unsurprisingly carried out for a firm selling televisions -- said on Friday. Electrical retailer Comet surveyed 2,000 Britons, asking them what they would give up for a large television, one of the latest consumer "must-haves." The firm found 47 percent of men would give up sex for half a year, compared to just over a third of women. "It seems that size really does matter more for men than women," the firm said....

Bob and Mike Bryan beat the Russian doubles team of Nikolay Davydenko and Igor Andreev in straight sets to clinch the Davis Cup final for the United States on Saturday in Portland, Ore. It's the 32nd Davis Cup title for the U.S., but its first since 1995. Russia was looking to become the first country to repeat as Davis Cup champions since Sweden in 1997-98.

PHILADELPHIA -- The NFL on Tuesday cut from 15 minutes to 10 the time between picks in the first round of its draft after a 2007 record round of 6 hours and 8 minutes. It also moved the starting time of the draft from noon ET to 3 p.m. and limited the first day to two rounds instead of three. "We believe this will make for a more streamlined and efficient draft," commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement issued during the league owners meetings. The change also applied to the second round, which will go from 10 minutes to...

MONTREAL (Reuters) - Steve Stricker and Hunter Mahan led the way as Presidents Cup holders the United States dominated Thursday's opening foursomes to lead the Internationals by 5-1/2 points to a half. Stricker and Mahan, in the first match out at an overcast Royal Montreal Golf Club, outclassed Australian duo Adam Scott and Geoff Ogilvy 3&2. The Americans raced three up after five holes and, despite twice having their lead trimmed to one, sealed victory at the par-four 16th where Stricker rolled in an 11-foot birdie putt. "We got off to a good start, got up early and played well...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) -- George Steinbrenner moved to the front row of the owner's private suite, and the celebration was on. The New York Yankees clinched their 13th straight postseason appearance, beating the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 12-4 Wednesday night to assure themselves of at least a wild-card berth in the playoffs. The victory, New York's 15th in 20 games, eliminated defending AL champion Detroit from postseason contention and set up a probable first-round matchup with Cleveland, the Central champion. "We've come from a long ways this year and a lot of adversity, a lot of injuries," Alex Rodriguez...

WASHINGTON, 26 (UPI) -- The U.S. Army announced it will commercially produce a unique protective steel armor based on technology developed and patented by the Department of Energy. The armor, designed to protect military personnel and vehicles from improvised explosive devices and explosively formed penetrators, was created by the Energy Department's National Energy Technology Laboratory. The Department of Defense said it plans to purchase about 10 million pounds of the cast-slotted steel armor known as P-900 for use as add-ons to military vehicles. The U.S. Army Tank and Automotive Command expects to receive the first 2.5 million pounds of P-900...

WASHINGTON, 23 (UPI) -- The Bush administration plans to increase its 2008 military operations funding request by $50 billion, Pentagon officials said in Washington. Much of the new request -- which would bring the total 2008 budget for operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere to nearly $200 billion -- will go to refurbish and purchase new military equipment such as mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles, or MRAPs, The New York Times reported. Defense Secretary Robert Gates will present the request at a Wednesday Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, the Pentagon officials said Saturday. Though the budget increase could sharpen partisan divisions over the...

BAGHDAD, Sept. 23 (UPI) -- An Iraqi government official says the absence of the Blackwater U.S. security contractor could pose a significant security threat to Iraq. Iraqi government official Tahseen Sheikhly said if the company is thrown out of Iraq for allegedly killing Iraqi civilians, the country's security would be placed at risk, the Voice of America reported Sunday. "If this company left, it would leave a security vacuum, because foreign embassies and companies depend on protection by this company," Sheikhly said. "If they left immediately there would be a security vacuum that will demand pulling some troops that work...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Sept. 20 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists have created a device that lessens the risk of injury for soldiers and others who must carry heavy packages or equipment. Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers created an exoskeleton that can assume 80 percent of an 80-pound load carried on a person's back, the scientists said. However, the current model impedes the natural walking gait of the person wearing it. "You can definitely tell it's affecting your gait," said Conor Walsh, a graduate student who worked on the project, "but you do feel it taking the load off and you definitely feel...

SEATTLE, Sept. 13 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists have developed a multilingual technology that allows Internet users to successfully search for images using search terms in any language. "Images are universal but image search is not," said University of Washington Professor Oren Etzioni, who led the research. "A person who types his or her search in English won't find images tagged in Chinese and a Dutch person won't find images tagged in English. We've created a collaborative tool that solves this problem." Search engines such as Google look for images by detecting the search term in captions and text. But since...

QUANTICO, Va., Sept. 12 (UPI) -- The top defense contractors' latest product advancements are set to be showcased at the Modern Day Marine Military Exposition in Virginia. U.S. Marines are about to see the latest at the world's largest military equipment and systems exposition, the 2007 Modern Day Marine Military Exposition at Marine Corps Base, Quantico, Va., Oct. 2-4. Modern Day Marine Military Exposition is co-sponsored by Marine Corps Systems Command and the Marine Corps League. Exposition officials say almost 400 companies will showcase their products for a current military environment where there is a renewed emphasis on the expeditionary...