To write, or not to write - that is the question. Maybe it's because we are now fully immersed into the dog days of summer and it's just too hot to think. Well, I suppose y'all deserve an answer to "where the heck have I been." So, to answer that, I present the Top 10 reasons I haven't blogged in 10 days.

10. I was waiting to see who would hit a home run first, A-Rod (#500) or Barry Bonds (#755).

9. I was waiting for the trading deadline in baseball to pass.

8. I had to re-read the first 6 Harry Potter books again.

7. I was waiting to see if anyone noticed.

6. Old motto: "Writing is my life." New motto: "Are you ready for some football?"

The next five are actually serious...

5. My mother is gravely ill and not expected to survive much longer.

4. While there is so much to write about, I felt overwhelmed with everything else happening in my life.

3. I'm feeling very apathetic towards reading the local newspapers here in Chicago because the Sun-Times won't stop worshipping all things "Obama" and the Tribune does the same with Hillary.

2. Sometimes I just feel as if what I write doesn't matter.

1b. (TIE) I'm so sick of the hypocrisy from both political parties - especially the Democrats - that I'm just plain sick.

1a. (TIE) I'm equally sickened by Olmert and his destructive, unpopular and defeatest policies in Israel - and even more disgusted that Shimon Peres, the man responsible for spilling the most Jewish blood when he co-authored the disastrous Oslo Accords, has been elected President - although the position is mostly ceremonial. Regardless, it allows him a larger forum to express views that have been proven tremendously foolhardy and suicidal.

Look, I know the war in Iraq has had a number of problems, although the news has certanly improved, according the General Petraeus. I also feel that we have long-coddled the Suadis for far too long. But I still believe this is all beneficial for the long term and I believe as well that we must finish what we started. I am totally and completely against pulling our troops out now, or any other forced timetable.

Furthermore, with the 2008 election about 15 months away, I am already sick of all the candidates, save one. On the Democrats side, I fear for this country if we elect any one of those front-runners. Hillary Clinton??? Barack Obama??? John Edwards??? I can't take any of them seriously. They are all so remarkably flawed that the idea of one of them leading the country is just too hard to imagine.

As for the Republicans, they also scare me. In an interview this past week, Mitt Romney considered Hezbollah as a role-model for rebuilding Iraq. Of course he backtrack. But what the heck? It should make everyone of us wonder about his ability to govern. While Romney backtracked, Obama stuck his foot in his mouth so far, he can tie his shoes with his tounge. He may never recover from his two bone-headed statements ("I believe in sex-ed for kindergartners" and "I'd blow up Pakistan").

To me, the office of President is all about security - about who can keep us safe from harm. For me, for right now, I'm a Giuliani guy. I look at his record and, while I take issue with a few of his policies, I remember how he cleaned up crime in NY an how he kept the city from falling apart. I remember him refusing to allow Yasir Arafat in and I remember his speech at the annual AIPAC convention a few years later.

But it's still 15 months to go. It could be fun...