Rebels without a cause

If nearly a week goes by without an original post, is a blog still relevant? Not if it never was, I suppose. It's not like readers were clamoring for more from this blog. In fact, no one even noticed when I posted -- and immediately retracted -- suggestions that I wished the vice president dead. I don't, of course. I have a much crueler fate in mind.

But this blog is telling, I think, as much in what's not said as what is. The aforementioned Dick Cheney flap, Ann Coulter's latest outrageous remarks, steamy photos of an American Idol contestant and Ahman Green's departure from the Green Bay Packers all happened this week and nary a mention was made here.

It's not that these issues -- and many more -- didn't spark our creative juices. It's just that politics, news and sports (#s 2-4 on our most frequent category topics) sometimes take a back seat to life (#1), parenting (#10), work (#16) and weather (#17).

As Al Gore was collecting an Oscar for his documentary on global warming, I was battling the worst case of spring fever I can remember. As a wacko Florida judge (pardon the redundancy) was determining Anna Nicole Smith's final resting place, I was editing obituaries for folks with far less fame, but no less a right to a dignified death. As Britney Spears was alternately checking in and out of rehab centers, tattoo parlors and beauty (?) shops, I was balancing the job for which I'm paid vs. the duties for which I've volunteered vs. the family that both makes it all possible and drives me to accomplish more.

So pardon me for not going to the trouble of inserting Technorati tags that don't work anyway. I'm done posting columns by Maureen Dowd and items about hermaphrodite deer in a desperate ploy to attract readers. I may still post those things, and Tavin videos too, but my motives have changed.

As grateful as I am for this forum, I see no need to pander to the audience. There's far too much of that as it is. I have things to say and I'll say them here. Whether anyone cares to read them is not my concern.