Martin seems to be able to put the differences between US and DE blogging and politics in the correct frame.  I'm not so familiar with the German scene, partly because my German is so poor.  Perhaps i'll have some comments, but i'm under the gun today, and not sure how much time i can leave my Lebensarbeit for what's important here.  ;-)

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin