"Oh, Burgher, Where Art Thou?" -- Another Pittsburgh Blogger's Gone

[UPDATE 1: The Burgher responds at the end of this post.]

Suddenly, another one is gone.

The Burgher -- the anonymous blogger behind The Burgh Report -- unexpectedly pulled the plug on his/her blog last night. Thus ends what was Pittsburgh's premier local political blog. The Burgher not only provided a unique focus on local government and politics (with the help of Bram R, The Admiral, Char, and others). The Burgh Report's comments section provided spirited exchanges and entries that deserved to be blog posts of their own. The Burgher's blog was to local politics what PittGirl's blog was to Pittsburgh pop culture.

I was off the e-mail/BlackBerry/blog-reading grid last night and this morning, and didn't find out until I was leaving for work. There was a two word parting message from The Burgher in my in-box, linking to the farewell post.

Like PittGirl, The Burgher nuked the archive of his/her blog when he/she shut down. All that remains is a YouTube clip from The Usual Suspects. (If you've never seen the movie, rent it first. Otherwise the clip will spoil the movie and you won't get the reference.)

Readers and fellow bloggers are paying their respects at:

The Pittsburgh Comet

2Political Junkies

I've e-mailed The Burgher asking why he/she is gone. Is it because of a threat to the blogger's anonymity? I'll update this post later, if I learn more.

Update: here's The Burgher's e-mailed response:

You have to choose your enemies wisely because they will come to define you.

At some point you have to realize that certain caves are too dark for your flashlight. Either changes caves or get a bigger flashlight. I couldn't get a bigger flashlight in my current situation.

I could do a thousands posts detailing how a former D-III placekicker is unqualified -- ethically and professionally -- to be the Mayor, but I've come to the conclusion that the best way to move Pittsburgh forward would be for me to direct my energy elsewhere.

Maintaining my anonymity was too much stress to deal with.

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