The weather is biting cold outside in these parts (below zero for a few nights). I've noticed that when the temperature drops in the Northeast, the religion and politics discussions get more heated. Maybe all that hot air helps to keep the atmosphere warmer in these parts.

One of my favorite Upstate political blogs is NYCO's Blog (although it's heavy on Syracuse issues). (The blogger is claiming Iowa a success for Obama and looks to be throwing her hat in the ring for Edwards). I like the blogger and she can be poignant at times, but politically she is muy loco. Reading Upstate liberal blogs makes me more painfully aware of what's wrong with our state.

Reading this blog causes me to continue to have hope.

Fault Lines is a very local Upstate blog (Greater Utica area) but he makes an awful lot of sense and contributes a lot to the political scene. I say dump all our local politicians and put more guys like him in charge.

The Empire Center for NYS Policy is another terrific website (not a blog, really). Go there just to see their Spend-o-meter!

It's no secret that we support Ron Paul. We petitioned to get his name on the New York State primary ballot (New York was going to exclude him until the outcry). Ron Paul is the only upright, solid-thinking, constitutionalist in the entire group. He's also raised as much campaign money as the Junior Senator from New York... but strangely enough I haven't seen this incredible news in the media! Hercules Mulligan (another Upstate blogger) over at Herculean Reflections makes some great points about Paul and why Ron Paul is right. My husband is reading Paul's book, A Foreign Policy of Freedom. He is not the "isolationist Nazi" that opponents keep accusing him of! The more we learn of Paul's policies, the more we like him.

Aside from politics, although still related via thoughts on the polis, is a post I wrote over at New York Traveler.Net. It's been a few making waves in the travel blogs, because I challenged a young man's humanistic view on travel promoting globalism.

So even though the weather outside is frightful, the political fires are... well, they're frightful, too.