I think a fair number of Muslims would agree with you that there are many more pressing issues than the cartoons.  Mona Eltahawy is one of them:

Of all the issues that plague the Muslim world today, are our priorities cartoons published in a newspaper in a country inhabited by less than 6 million people? If we really want to pick a fight with the West, have we forgotten that 500 Muslim men continue to be detained without charge at the makeshift prison run by the United States at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which last week marked its fourth anniversary?

The problem with this particular situation is that it is being seen in the Muslim world not as a battle against radical Islam, but as a battle against Islam, full stop.  Our Western self-righteousness on this issue is alienating moderate and liberal Muslims who, as others have pointed out here, should be forming the bridge between our cultures.

Personally, I wish everyone would just get over it already.  It's giving me headaches.