How do you say ‘Energiewende’ in American?
The answer is, you don’t.
The Germans have a reputation as hard-headed, practical and technically capable, and that reputation is being borne out — so far — as Germany moves quickly toward green energy. In 2000, the highly industrialized country produced just 6 percent of its electricity through renewable sources such as wind and solar; by 2011, that number had jumped to 20 percent.
And as Technology Review points out, the biggest step is yet to come, with Germany aiming to meet 35 percent of its electricity needs through renewables by 2020:
In 2010, the German government declared that it would undertake what has popularly come to be called an Energiewende — an energy turn, or energy revolution. This switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy is the most ambitious ever attempted by a heavily industrialized country: It aims to cut greenhouse-gas emissions 40 percent from 1990 levels by 2020, and 80 percent by mid-century.
The goal was challenging, but it was made somewhat easier by the fact that Germany already generated more than 20 percent of its electricity from nuclear power, which produces almost no greenhouse gases. Then last year, responding to public concern over the post-tsunami nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan, Chancellor Angela Merkel ordered the eight oldest German nuclear plants shut down right away. A few months later, the government finalized a plan to shut the remaining nine by 2022. Now the Energiewende includes a turn away from Germany’s biggest source of low-carbon electricity.
Germany has set itself up for a grand experiment that could have repercussions for all of Europe, which depends heavily on German economic strength. The country must build and use renewable energy technologies at unprecedented scales, at enormous but uncertain cost, while reducing energy use. And it must pull it all off without undercutting industry, which relies on reasonably priced, reliable power. “In a sense, the Energiewende is a political statement without a technical solution,” says Stephan Reimelt, CEO of GE Energy Germany. “Germany is forcing itself toward innovation. What this generates is a large industrial laboratory at a size which has never been done before. We will have to try a lot of different technologies to get there.”
How can Germany hope to pull off such a feat without driving electricity prices so high that industry is forced to leave? In part, by making residential customers and small business — captive users, in other words — pay the brunt of the increased cost, while largely exempting major industry.
Even with that arrangement, many business leaders are still not convinced it’s feasible, with one prominent German CEO referring to Energiewende as a “political wish that is without a realistic view of what is achievable.”
Such nervousness is understandable, given the enormity of the task that Germany has set for itself. German officials acknowledge that the technology does not yet exist to make their goal a reality. In effect, they are gambling that necessity will once again be the mother of invention, forcing innovation that otherwise would not occur.
So far, the progress that they’ve made is impressive. But as an American, I’m even more impressed with the fact that their political leadership is capable of undertaking such a bold campaign, with support across the political spectrum. Sadly, that capability seems to have atrophied on this side of the Atlantic.
– Jay Bookman
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431 comments Add your comment
Eric
June 27th, 2012
5:38 pm
How do you say this in “American?” Seriously…??? American is not a language. Here we speak English. For an opinon column writer you sure turned out to be a moron.
JamVet
June 27th, 2012
5:38 pm
Billybob, wft are you talking about? (As though you have some cogent and legitimate point.)
At least post some semi-intelligent specifics to support your fact-free assertions.
Even once in a blue moon.
Is that too much to ask?
Is it even possible for you to do such a thing?
I don’t think so.
I do not recall one instance where you have ever done so.
Absurd, but typical of right wing bloggers here…
Aloha Vampire
June 27th, 2012
5:39 pm
Die Braunhemden, die ihre Agenda durchzusetzen am Deutschen benutzt haben, um die Demokratische Partei ausgewandert. All diejenigen, die die progressive Agenda zu widersetzen wagen muss aufgerundet und an den Lagern. Wagen Sie es nicht in Frage zu dem Präsidenten oder seinem Agenten. Die Öfen richtig heiß!
Joe Hussein Mama
June 27th, 2012
5:41 pm
Adam — “To be fair, from a practical standpoint it makes sense to let other countries do the hard part and then steal their finished product. Other countries have done that.”
Indeed. The Soviet Buran shuttle looked *just* like our Space Shuttle, but was smaller.
The Chinese manned space vehicles look *remarkably* like early Soviet ships; the Chinese ships being less rounded and more faceted.
And the recently-put-to-sea first Chinese aircraft carrier actually *was* a Russian carrier when her keel was first laid down; the Chinese bought the hull from Ukraine, fitted her out and have been testing her at sea. The Chinese are expected to put the carrier into active service later this year.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_aircraft_carrier_Varyag
Brosephus™
June 27th, 2012
5:41 pm
Adam
I’m only interested in relaying truthisms and not merely rhetoric.
—————
What happened to the America that used to build remarkable things and undertake incredible challenges?
In short, we busted up and outsourced that b***h a long time ago. We’re all about financial transactions. We want to make money, not sweat.
TaxPayer
June 27th, 2012
5:42 pm
The U.S. will have to be more sneaky about how to steal the technology.
Or we could just openly trade drones, stealth technology, and other weapons for new green technology. After all, we may as well get some benefit from that 750 billion dollar annual DoD tax expenditure.
Brosephus™
June 27th, 2012
5:44 pm
American is not a language. Here we speak English.
And American English is not your standard English either. Not all “English” languages are the same. Dialects, accents, and slanguistics tend to break them up. I bet you didn’t even know that all Spanish was the same. Mexican Spanish is different from European Spanish which is also different from Puerto Rican Spanish.
I can’t explain it in detail, but I’m sure the blog’s resident linguist will back me up on that.
josef
June 27th, 2012
5:45 pm
More on topic, I fail to understand this “German envy” we seem to have embarked on. We might be doing better ourselves if we had leveled the place to where there was no brick on stone, and then, courtesy those who did the destruction, have rebuilt our aging infrastructure with the latest and most modern. It gave them quite the leg up in the long run. Credit where credit is due, they’ve also done a pretty good job of taking that and running with it.
TaxPayer
June 27th, 2012
5:46 pm
Vampires suck.
JamVet
June 27th, 2012
5:47 pm
Eric, you are dumber than a bag of hammers.
Seriously. That you don’t “get” what is patently obvious is amazing.
But you must have been a huge hit in the seventh grade.
barking frog
June 27th, 2012
5:47 pm
Werewolves bite.
Oscar
June 27th, 2012
5:50 pm
Twenty per cent from wind and solor is pretty impressive. No reason why we can’t do that, or better. It will take some govrt. investment in research and development.
Brosephus™
June 27th, 2012
5:50 pm
JamVet
Be nice!!!
pogo
June 27th, 2012
5:51 pm
One must understand that Germany does not have natural gas resources. They must import the natural gas (mainly from Russia) that they use at a very high price. If they exclude Nuclear, what else can they resort to? Lignite coal burning and renewables are apparently their only choice. The true test of their strategy is going to be just how much those small rate payers in Germany are willing to shoulder to follow an energy strategy that has no scientific foundation (much as Obama and his Green Energy programs have here) without blowing billions of their taxpayer dollars.
What is really interesting is that James Lovelock, the inventor of the Gaia theory, is now saying that re-newables are a fools dream. He does not totally discount them but he thinks the technology is some some 40-50 years out yet and that we must rely and take advantage of those energy sources that we know can meet the demand now. INuclear being a main player. In fact he went further and said in an interview with the Guardian, he embraced fracking for natural gas, scorned renewables and castigated the Germans for shutting down their nukes in favor of lignite, a low-grade coal, for electricity generation. He also went on to say that windmills are a total waste of ever decreasing taxpayer dollars and that he hated them. They are environmentally damaging (they kill millions of birds), they make terrible noise pollution and they are very expensive to maintain for the amount of power they produce.
So Jay,one of your own (Loevelock) who Al Gore cut his global warming teeth on and which he garned much of his theory (whatever that is) from has now changed his position on the liberal environmentalist fairy tales. He has learned and he has changed his opinion, as any learned man of science should. He also castigated the Global Warming movement as transitioning from the scientific method to just promoting just another political religion meant to pacify the environmentalist and progressive crowd. Lovelock is a man that has devoted his entire life to the protection of this planet and its people and knows far more about the environment than Al Gore or any of us. The environment has been this mans life.
Also Jay, Merkel is still devoted to austerity in Europe as she should be. Even under the pressure from socialist economists and socialist leaders (Obama) she still is sticking to her guns. How dare you as a lap dog liberal glorify such an anti-progressive leader such as her?
josef
June 27th, 2012
5:52 pm
BROSEPHUS
We have three standard dialects of American English: New England, Mid Atlantic, and Southern. Additionally there are literally hundreds of non standard dialects and sub dialects. The English language is spoken around the world as the language of daily discourse over a wider area than any other and is influenced by local needs.
If someone wants to question someone saying “speak American” and then “correct” them to say we speak “English,” the logical next question is which American English…
Oscar
June 27th, 2012
5:53 pm
Americans are still willing to sweat. JUst not for three dollars a day like they have been doing in Asia. But, the Asians are wising up, they want more money the the leaders realize they have to pay them more to have some domestic demand. Can’t rely on shipping everying over here any more. We are out of cash and credit is maxed out.
Oscar
June 27th, 2012
5:55 pm
If someone wants to question someone saying “speak American” and then “correct” them to say we speak “English,” the logical next question is which American English…
___
There is also the Appalachian dialect running from Maine to Alabama. With a lot of sub=dialects. One in each valley all the way down, or up.
JamVet
June 27th, 2012
5:56 pm
You’re right, Bro.
Just dog tired and still working like a maniac on the other screen.
Plus I tore my plantar fascia playing soccer with the boys last night and my foot hurts like a _____________!!
Time to heal my savage breast…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPrHaB8KCIk
Aloha Vampire
June 27th, 2012
5:57 pm
Vampires may suck but haters swallow.
Get a job u wingnut — aka TaxPayer.
Obama can’t claim executive privilege in dis blog.
Oscar
June 27th, 2012
5:58 pm
I bet you didn’t even know that all Spanish was the same.
_________
You mean all spanish is not the same. Different type in central and south america. Very much different.
weetamoe
June 27th, 2012
5:58 pm
German workers willingly worked shorter hours with corresponding cuts in wages so that coworkers would not face layoffs. Germans are the most innovative, industrious workers in the west. German manufactured scientific products are considered the best and are in demand. Though Angela Merkel is being smeared by Americans like Paul Krugman and by fellow eurozone slacker countries, her courage to stand by an austerity program and to so far resist demands that she *share* the hard earned fruits of German work ethic and thrift make her a model for the whiners and shiftless.
carlosgvv
June 27th, 2012
5:59 pm
MiltonMan – 5:21
My post is about what would happen if Germany’s economy went sour. It was NOT about WHY it is happening in Greece or WHY it might happen in Germany. Looks like your Christian Academy education didn’t include reading comprehension.
Oscar
June 27th, 2012
6:00 pm
Time for Greece and most of southern Europe to exit the Euro zone. Or else draft a constitution and form a federation. there are several good forms around the could copy.
Oscar
June 27th, 2012
6:01 pm
My post is about what would happen if Germany’s economy went sour
________
That’s something we don’t want to find out. things would be bad here and all over..
Joe Hussein Mama
June 27th, 2012
6:01 pm
pogo — “He also went on to say that windmills are a total waste of ever decreasing taxpayer dollars and that he hated them. They are environmentally damaging (they kill millions of birds)”
Wrong.
http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/wind-turbine-kill-birds.htm
“they make terrible noise pollution”
Wrong.
Ever stood right under one when it was up to full speed? One about 150 feet tall?
I have. A mile away, you won’t hear it.
“and they are very expensive to maintain for the amount of power they produce.”
How expensive was this for the amount of power it produced?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepwater_Horizon_oil_spill
josef
June 27th, 2012
6:06 pm
OSCAR
Both Unmentionable and I grew up in bi-dialectical homes, “Appalachian” on one side, and “Louisiana” on the other. We use both at home, and Standard Southern for our public needs. But even in our home dialects, there is a strong distinction between us given where our parents are from.
They BOTH suck
June 27th, 2012
6:07 pm
Pogo
Lovelock has tempered what he calls an “alarmist” way of thinking on climate change, however he still says it is ocurring.
Nice try to distort what he now believes.
“Lovelock, 92, is writing a new book in which he will say climate change is still happening, but not as quickly as he once feared.
Asked if he was now a climate skeptic, Lovelock told msnbc.com: “It depends what you mean by a skeptic. I’m not a denier.”
If facts EVER become your friend, you will probably will not now how to act
Until that time, carry on with your typical crap and let me know if I can assist you with the truth that seems to escape you the vast majority of the time
Billybob
June 27th, 2012
6:09 pm
jam,
somebody needs a time out…..or a hug, either way enjoy the conservative beatdown in nov….
Matti
June 27th, 2012
6:10 pm
Tatsächlich….
Wir sind alle lauter arme kleine Würstchen. (It’s a song, y’all.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-r4usrAUDs
They BOTH suck
June 27th, 2012
6:11 pm
Billbob
Winning the majority and maybe all of the south, does not an election make
JamVet
June 27th, 2012
6:12 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNjzzDNIJWw
Adam
June 27th, 2012
6:13 pm
TaxPayer: We are SO not trading our advanced tech for green tech. No freakin way. And I’m not comfortable with the idea either.
Jm-pass TSPLOST silly people
June 27th, 2012
6:13 pm
Actuallyit probably makes more sense for Germany to exit the eurozone
Call it national galtism
Soothsayer
June 27th, 2012
6:17 pm
The truth about the Fast and Furious scandal
A Fortune investigation reveals that the ATF never intentionally allowed guns to fall into the hands of Mexican drug cartels. How the world came to believe just the opposite is a tale of rivalry, murder, and political bloodlust.
Quite simply, there’s a fundamental misconception at the heart of the Fast and Furious scandal. Nobody disputes that suspected straw purchasers under surveillance by the ATF repeatedly bought guns that eventually fell into criminal hands. Issa and others charge that the ATF intentionally allowed guns to walk as an operational tactic. But five law-enforcement agents directly involved in Fast and Furious tell Fortune that the ATF had no such tactic. They insist they never purposefully allowed guns to be illegally trafficked. Just the opposite: They say they seized weapons whenever they could but were hamstrung by prosecutors and weak laws, which stymied them at every turn.
Lies, half-truths, and innuedo: the hallmark of Focked News and the Republicans.
TaxPayer
June 27th, 2012
6:20 pm
Vampires eventually grow to hate their immortality.
JamVet
June 27th, 2012
6:20 pm
bb, watching you spit and sputter after said beatdown will be priceless.
There wont be enough popcorn for sale!
And unlike last time when I played it very low key (cuz I respected John McCain quite a lot), I have no such reservations about this joke of a fraud of a dopey candidate that you are running this year.
So this time around, I’m gonna have BIG fun with you arch-conservatives…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shgSLKb-onA
Matti
June 27th, 2012
6:20 pm
Translation:
“We are all sad, sorry little sausages.”
josef
June 27th, 2012
6:20 pm
MATTI
Meine Wurst ist nicht kleine, frag Bruno!
Soothsayer
June 27th, 2012
6:22 pm
So Congress votes to find Holder in contempt of Congress. So the Justice Department under Eric Holder is going to do what? Prosecute Eric Holder? Get real!
What a big, fat waste of time and effort when they could be focusing on something productive. What a bunch of completely stupid idiots the RepugNOwecan’ts are.
GT
June 27th, 2012
6:24 pm
A little like the space race only Germany instead of Russia. Some states in this country have a 20% mandate before some year in the future. Does Georgia,
? Nope. Energy is so cheap here that they can’t picture it ever running out and anyone that suggest it is a communist. Who do you think will be the leaders of the next century? Won’t be Georgia,but no one expected it to be. If illegals become a problem in the next 10 years we got it covered but anything above that is above its pay scale.
Paul
June 27th, 2012
6:24 pm
Leadership. Laying out a vision and herding the cats towards the goal.
Try it here and the Republican Congress whines “but where’s the plan? Waahhh…. Tell me what to do….. wahhhh…..”
So what are the benefits? A lot less impact if there’s another Libyan situation. Not being captive to Iranian threats. What’s America’s solution? Spend trillions on the Pentagon, use the stuff up and spend billions more. Brilliant.
This is rather a repeat of the quality improvement/process improvement efforts that began in the 90s here. Initial read was “so what if the Japanese do it and their cars knock the socks off ours with quality ratings. It’d cost too much, take too much time, it’s not adaptable to here…” Yet the latest JD Powers sees staggering quality improvements compared to them and in many cases it’s on a level with the Japanese.
Much of this resistance comes from hostility to science (global warming is not real!!!), a campaign-slogan reflexive convulsion against ‘government control’ and a ‘dam the costs, our goal is to defeat the incumbent’ attitude.
Sad to think we’re not as good as the Germans at planning, innovating and leading towards the future.
getalife
June 27th, 2012
6:25 pm
Good for Germany.
I guess big oil did not make ads against it.
We can’t do that here because of the gop and big oil.
I
Thomas
June 27th, 2012
6:25 pm
Jay likes Germans
Liberals like Jay
Hitler was a chancellor of Germany
Hitler was a racist
All liberals including Jay are therefore racist
A lot of neocons drive BMWs and Mercedes
They are made in Germany
…..
everyone is a racist I suppose
Anyway- Still laugh at the 100 million incentive by McCain to invent a longer lasting battery.
Germany has an incredible economy bolstered by a strong focus on engineering. They always have- since the paleolithic era.
Jay- you are stating the obvious in your column. A nice follow up would be Brazil which in the 70s went down the path of energy independence. Last time I checked- the ol’ Brazilians are doing pretty well.
Lastly- Romney sucks. He is awful and I have noted 666 on his receding hair line.
Obama is over
June 27th, 2012
6:26 pm
Schadenfreude is probably a more appropriate German word for this blog.
Soothsayer
June 27th, 2012
6:28 pm
“Meine Wurst ist nicht kleine, frag Bruno!”
I wouldn’t touch that with a . . . well, I just wouldn’t touch it!
RB from Gwinnett
June 27th, 2012
6:28 pm
Jay, if the average American lived in an 800 square-foot apartment and didn’t have air-conditioning, our power bills would be half what they are too. We’re not interested in that standard of living. No thank you.
Paul
June 27th, 2012
6:29 pm
josef
“We might be doing better ourselves if we had leveled the place to where there was no brick on stone, and then, courtesy those who did the destruction, have rebuilt our aging infrastructure with the latest and most modern. It gave them quite the leg up in the long run”
In all fairness, East Germany was quite the albatross when unification occurred. The investment costs were staggering. But they made it happen.
pogo
Good point about natural gas. But what do we do here? Run from it every time the market fluctuates.
JamVet
Ibuprofen is your friend -
Paulo977
June 27th, 2012
6:30 pm
Brosephus™
June 27th, 2012
5:44 pm
_____________________________________
Is it any wonder that we are so IGNORANT of what drives the issues here??????
Mighty Righty
June 27th, 2012
6:30 pm
Sadly, that capability seems to have atrophied on this side of the Atlantic.
And thank God for that. It is always better to be a settler than a pioneer. The pioneers are the ones with the arrows in their backs. Let the Germans use their capital and failures to discover whether their idea is even feasible. We should encourage them in their quest to be first. Let them suffer the slings and arrows of disapointmnet while we settle for being best.
Matti
June 27th, 2012
6:30 pm
josef,
Warum gibt Männer immer die Wurst Witzen? Wann ich bin hungrig, ich hätte lieber die Schnitzel mit Kartoffelsalat.
barking frog
June 27th, 2012
6:31 pm
Yo no soy un chorizo.
getalife
June 27th, 2012
6:32 pm
Germany is progressive.
Our President has to quietly invest in green energy.
Don’t tell any cons.
godless heathen
June 27th, 2012
6:33 pm
“Sad to think we’re not as good as the Germans at planning, innovating and leading towards the future.”
But we have more diversity and isn’t that what counts?
godless heathen
June 27th, 2012
6:35 pm
Our President has to quietly invest in green energy.
He can invest his money into whatever he wants.
Adam
June 27th, 2012
6:36 pm
RB: Jay, if the average American lived in an 800 square-foot apartment and didn’t have air-conditioning, our power bills would be half what they are too. We’re not interested in that standard of living. No thank you.
Hey, either you accept a lower standard of living or you stop fighting unions, government labor laws, and minimum wage. Your choice.
Jm-pass TSPLOST silly people
June 27th, 2012
6:36 pm
Pleasant weather here, 80’s….
josef
June 27th, 2012
6:37 pm
German austerity you say….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcqQVgTishQ
Thomas Heyward Jr.
June 27th, 2012
6:37 pm
Higher utility bills?
.
Arbeit Macht Frei
.
All within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state.
.
Its all for the collective.
The Gov has no Money!
June 27th, 2012
6:37 pm
It is refreshing to see a government in action. Getting things done. On the other hand, our government is at its best these days when they are in recess. Action by our elected leaders usually is bad news for us little people.
TaxPayer
June 27th, 2012
6:39 pm
Germany is progressive.
Our President has to quietly invest in green energy.
Don’t tell any cons.
Then again, we could just tell the cons that those windmills are actually the latest in oil pumps and they’ll buy right into it. No questions asked.
barking frog
June 27th, 2012
6:42 pm
godless
Germany tried to take
Europe with the Euro.
England resisted. Germany
is now hung with Europe
and must support them
or go down with them.
Not good planning.
Matti
June 27th, 2012
6:42 pm
Action by our elected leaders usually is bad news for us little people.
That’s because the little people became complacent over the years, leaving the important decisions to the suits we “trusted” to handle things, so we wouldn’t have to think about it. We have circuses to attend, after all. I hear they’re giving away bread!
Michael
June 27th, 2012
6:42 pm
In 1961 Kennedy said we should send a man to the moon and return him safely within 10 years. And we did. Nixon was sitting in the White House during the moon landing and began to scale back NASA.
In 1981 Reagan said the government is the problem. So, the government that won WWII, developed nuclear power and weapons, passed the Marshall plan and the GI Bill was a problem and not part of the solution.
So, now we find enough money for prisons but not for schools. Germany, which is poorly located for solar power, is more aggressive than our country, which has a huge desert.
Maybe it’s the highly unionized workforce and the moderately paid CEOs that are working together to move Germany forward, while we work for a cut on the financial transactions.
josef
June 27th, 2012
6:42 pm
MATTI
Deine Hände weg von meinen Kartoffeln und Schnitzel …Nazifrau!
Adam
June 27th, 2012
6:44 pm
Matti: Let them eat cake
josef
June 27th, 2012
6:45 pm
PAUL
You make a point good on East Germany, but they had the economic wherewithal and the will to (peacefully) level that infrastructure and replace it with an even more modern one than in the west…
Matti
June 27th, 2012
6:45 pm
Frog: Yo no soy un chorizo.
Rechts. Sondern, du bist doch eine Dichter.
Erwin's cat
June 27th, 2012
6:46 pm
Newclear is the only real option an the moment…and it’s green
Jm-pass TSPLOST silly people
June 27th, 2012
6:46 pm
I wonder how many words jay’s obamacare post will be
8000?
Over under?
Jay
June 27th, 2012
6:47 pm
“Jay, if the average American lived in an 800 square-foot apartment and didn’t have air-conditioning, our power bills would be half what they are too. We’re not interested in that standard of living. No thank you.
RB, clearly you have no idea how well the average German lives.
Towncrier
June 27th, 2012
6:49 pm
“But as an American, I’m even more impressed with the fact that their political leadership is capable of undertaking such a bold campaign, with support across the political spectrum. Sadly, that capability seems to have atrophied on this side of the Atlantic.”
With respect to developing a viable alternative energy source, I would argue that capability did not atrophy at all as it never existed – or if it did, it was well before the oil embargo of 1973.
Jm-pass TSPLOST silly people
June 27th, 2012
6:50 pm
Germany can exit the euro with minor pain
Erwin's cat
June 27th, 2012
6:51 pm
I take that back…I remember a paper that cited that if we all had a combo of solar, wind, geotherm and whatever else at our own individual homes all tied to a smart grid, large segments could be almost self sufficient and eventually put the big power companies outta biz
Mighty Righty
June 27th, 2012
6:52 pm
Soothsayer
June 27th, 2012
6:17 pm
The truth about the Fast and Furious scandal from the Las Angeles Times
Furious Fast and Furious weapons were found in Mexico cartel enforcer’s home
Guns illegally purchased under the ATF operation were found in April hidden in violence-plagued Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, court records show.
October 08, 2011|By Richard A. Serrano, Washington Bureau
Comments0Share26This arsenal uncovered by police in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, in April turned… (Associated Press )Reporting from Washington — High-powered assault weapons illegally purchased under the ATF’s Fast and Furious program in Phoenix ended up in a home belonging to the purported top Sinaloa cartel enforcer in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, whose organization was terrorizing that city with the worst violence in the Mexican drug wars.
100 assault weapons acquired under Fast and Furious were transported 350 miles from Phoenix to El Paso, making that West Texas city a central hub for gun traffickers. Forty of the weapons made it across the border and into the arsenal of Jose Antonio Torres Marrufo, a feared cartel leader in Ciudad Juarez, according to federal court records and trace documents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The smugglers’ tactics — quickly moving the weapons far from ATF agents in southern Arizona, where it had been assumed they would circulate — vividly demonstrate that what had been viewed as a local problem was much larger. Six other Fast and Furious guns destined for El Paso were recovered in Columbus, N.M.
“These Fast and Furious guns were going to Sinaloans, and they are killing everyone down there,” said one knowledgeable U.S. government source, who asked for anonymity because of the ongoing investigations. “But that’s only how many we know came through Texas. Hundreds more had to get through.”
Torres Marrufo, also known as “the Jaguar,” has been identified by U.S. authorities as the enforcer for Sinaloa cartel chieftain Joaquin “Chapo” Guzman. The Fast and Furious weapons were found at one of Torres Marrufo’s homes April 30 when Mexican police inspected the property. It was unoccupied but “showed signs of recent activity,” they said.
The basement had been converted into a gym with a wall covered with built-in mirrors. Behind the mirrors they found a hidden room with the Fast and Furious weapons and dozens more, including an antiaircraft machine gun, a sniper rifle and a grenade launcher.
“We have seized the most important cache of weapons in the history of Ciudad Juarez,” Chihuahua state Gov. Cesar Duarte said at the time, though he did not know that many of the weapons came from the U.S. and Fast and Furious.
Torres Marrufo has been indicted in El Paso, but authorities have been unable to locate and arrest him.
JamVet
June 27th, 2012
6:53 pm
“Action by our elected leaders usually is bad news for us little people.”
True.
Because a whole sh*tload of Americans have been completely content to sit on our arses and let the fat cats and the corporations buy and run our government.
And even worse, a sizable chunk of us types actually pitch a sh*tfit when decent, hard working people finally have had enough and stand up to the tiny few power brokers and bailed out banksters and say, “Enough is enough!” Forty years of f&cking us is NOT OK!
You figure it out, I cannot.
I mean, if you choose to be a servile coward hoping for Donald Trump’s crumbs, fine.
Just get the hell out of the way of those who aren’t and shut the ____ up…
Brosephus™
June 27th, 2012
6:55 pm
The true test of their strategy is going to be just how much those small rate payers in Germany are willing to shoulder to follow an energy strategy that has no scientific foundation (much as Obama and his Green Energy programs have here) without blowing billions of their taxpayer dollars.
Germany’s already subsidized solar installation to the point where they have to shutter power plant when solar generation is at it’s peak as their current power grid can’t handle the surge. I was there in 2010, and everywhere you went throughout the countryside there were solar panels on homes, buildings, and damn near anything that would support them. Not to mention the number of windmills I saw towering over the fields growing hops.
I’d say Germany has a decidely huge lead on the US in the area of generating green energy.
—————-
Oscar @ 5:58
Thanks for the correction. That was what I meant to say.
—————-
German workers willingly worked shorter hours with corresponding cuts in wages so that coworkers would not face layoffs.
That was one of the primary reasons their economy recovered much faster than ours did after 2008. More people working with more money to spend kinda helps aid a recovering economy. The last thing you need to spur recovery is job/benefit cuts along with government spending cuts. Less consumption is never a remedy for a slowed consumption-based economy.
—————-
Paulo @ 6:30
I used to wonder. I simply began to sit back, observe, and take notes. The answers were revealed to me then.
JamVet
June 27th, 2012
6:57 pm
“RB, clearly you have no idea how well the average German lives.”
He should ask Jm about his numerous and extensive “travels to Europe”.
LOL…
josef
June 27th, 2012
7:01 pm
PAUL
Caught that one downstairs…
My mother made me a homosexual, and if you give her some yarn she’ll make you one, too!
curious
June 27th, 2012
7:01 pm
Weren’t those weapons sold legally? If they where “fully” automatic (Class 3), they could not be sold legally unless a local law enforcement offical signed off on the transfer that had to be submitted to ATF, transfer tax paid, and approved.
This is all a bunch of baloney. It’s just a Kangaroo Court.
The Germans will own this World.
Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)
June 27th, 2012
7:01 pm
Say it? Heck, I can’t even spell it. Anyway, I don’t see what’s wrong with just keeping on burning coal or oil or gas. We got about 100 years worth of coal in the ground and they won’t let us use it. And all because a bunch of egg-heads are complaining about a little sulphur or a few cases of cancer and such. What kind of weenies have we become? Besides, if we used coal the libruls wouldn’t be able to use that carbon trading crap they want to spring on us.
Anyhow, I can’t think of nothing but what’s going to happen to Obamacare tomorrow morning. If the SC says it’s OK then I’ll know I live in a Socialist country where they rob what I make to pay for somebody else’s Drs. bills. Somebody else being Those People and the Gays and the Hippies and the lazy bums that won’t go out and find a job. The SC’s got this big secret they’ve been keeping for months and there ain’t a leak in sight. What’s wrong with this unAmerican Supreme Court? Everybody leaks but them. Heck, I sometimes leak a little before I can get to a bathroom. It’s torture, I tell you. We’re being led along. It’s like not being told what day you’re going to be strapped on a gurney to get a needle.
Anyhow, I sure hope I won’t be reading the gnashing of teeth and whining from the Right sometime after 10 a.m. tomorrow. Just for this, we ought to hold this Holder in Contempt of Congress and send the cops to arrest him and make him do the Perp Walk.
You can bet I won’t be sleeping too good tonight. And Bookman’s got the nerve to put out a dull column about how the Socialist Germans are going all Green on us. God bless
the Republican PartyAmerica and have a good night everybody.Erwin's cat
June 27th, 2012
7:02 pm
RB, “clearly you have no idea how well the average German lives.”
skinny jeans, black poly, and Eric Estrada sun glasses
Towncrier
June 27th, 2012
7:02 pm
“I mean, if you choose to be a servile coward hoping for Donald Trump’s crumbs, fine.”
How about for George Soros?
Mighty Righty
June 27th, 2012
7:02 pm
According to Der Speigel
The average German…
· Has sex 117 times a year
· Wakes up at 6.23am
· Travels 24.5 miles a day
· Works 30.3 hours a week (41.4 hours in 1960)
· Drives a six-year-old silver metallic Volkswagen Golf which is washed nine times a year
· Walks towards the right when entering a shop
· Considers price to be more important than quality when shopping
· Has 971 sq ft of living space (a family of 2.2 people) which costs €408 a month in rent
· Dreams of stripping the woodchip wallpaper and laying down cherry or walnut parquet
· Takes 15 minutes to fall asleep
· Earns € 3,702 a month
F. Sinkwich
June 27th, 2012
7:03 pm
Oh, good. Another blog trying justify boondoggles like Solyndra.
Cash for clunkers, anyone?
How about stroking a check for $7500 to eco-weenies who buy that POS Volt?
Meanwhile, back at the ranch:
“Washington – The number of U.S. businesses with paid employees fell for a third straight year in 2010, but the rate of decrease slowed, the Census Bureau said on Tuesday. U.S. businesses numbered 7.4 million in 2010, down by 36,800 from the previous year.”
Priorities, people, priorities…
Paul
June 27th, 2012
7:03 pm
josef
Let stuff rattle around in the noggin’ and eventually the light comes on!
_______________________________________________________________________________
I’d really have thought that more of our conservative bloggers would’ve keyed in on the “the German gov’t exempted corporations from the cost and shifted it onto the working class.”
I’da thought they’d have been all over that, supporting it… before they even knew what the topic was.
Erwin's cat
June 27th, 2012
7:06 pm
before you decide to follow Germany’s lead…be aware, the worship David Hasselholf (sp?)…just sayin…and don’t forget France and their admiration for early Jerry Lewis
Mighty Righty
June 27th, 2012
7:06 pm
Redneck Convert (R–and proud of it)
Just remember the greens are getting rich on the hoax called global warming. The Solyndra scandal is merely a ti of the ice berg and like an ice berg the profits are hidden so the “commoners” wont see.
JamVet
June 27th, 2012
7:07 pm
TC, fine if that is your choice.
Cons hate Europeans and love smog.
Paul
June 27th, 2012
7:08 pm
Off Topic
Redneck’s post reminded me. Possibly Justice Kennedy will come through tomorrow. What I’d really like to see is that, plus Justice Roberts. For all his concern about depoliticizing the Court, not having narrow splits on major decisions, not having the Court aligned into two blocks identifiable as Liberal – Conservative… maybe, just maybe, he’ll secure his legacy and, with or without Kennedy, will vote to uphold.
josef
June 27th, 2012
7:09 pm
PAUL
I’m slow on the uptake! I’m on vacation…
Boris Badnoff
June 27th, 2012
7:09 pm
Now for some intelligent commentary on Wind Power
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100167303/aussies-drive-another-stake-into-the-heart-of-the-wind-farm-vampire/
What does one do when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine? Call on Our Beloved Messiah of course. His mere presence causes solar panels to generate megawatts and when you need wind there is no equal.
The real secret to our energy crisis is lightning bugs in mayonnaise jars.
Paul
June 27th, 2012
7:09 pm
Hey Sinkwich!!!!
Gas is down about a nickel in the Dallas area the last couple of days!
Is it down in your area, too?
So when are you going to give a rousing “Thanks, President Obama!!”????????????????????????
JamVet
June 27th, 2012
7:10 pm
“the hoax called global warming.”
Neocons are a trip, huh?
They have never found an overwhelming consensus that they couldn’t completely ignore.
Because they know so much more that the world’s brightest minds and scientific experts.
(Rush Limbaugh tells them the truth.)
Towncrier
June 27th, 2012
7:10 pm
“…he’ll secure his legacy…”
By voting the way you think he should?
Jm-pass TSPLOST silly people
June 27th, 2012
7:11 pm
I rather like Germany
They will shift gears later and end the insanity
Only after they lose a ton of money though
But Germans do this on a regular cycle but they can afford it
Last wave was tax credits in east Germany
Huge money wasted then too
Eventually they stop the stupidity after realizing the error
Brosephus™
June 27th, 2012
7:16 pm
Weren’t those weapons sold legally? If they where “fully” automatic (Class 3), they could not be sold legally unless a local law enforcement offical signed off on the transfer that had to be submitted to ATF, transfer tax paid, and approved.
SHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! Most people know that the guns were “legally” purchased. When laws are as lax as they are in Arizona, it’s really no surprise. You really don’t want them to know that the ATF could do nothing more than record serial numbers of guns AFTER they were purchased. In Texas, with slightly different gun laws, the ATF actually seized Arizona purchased guns that were heading to Mexico. Had those smugglers simply crossed the border in Arizona, there was no legal way for the ATF to seize them unless they shot somebody on their way to Mexico.
It’s better to leave the facade that the ATF was sitting across the street from the gun stores watching the transactions and then following the vehicle all the way to the border.
Paul
June 27th, 2012
7:17 pm
““the hoax called global warming.””
“This is how science works. EPA is not required to re-prove the existence of the atom every time it approaches a scientific question.”
The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
http://www.mlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2012/06/post_89.html
Paul
June 27th, 2012
7:19 pm
Towncrier
By acting to achieve that which he has stated as the ideal – persuading justices to break out of their Liberal – Conservative identities and defuse the perceived politicization of the Court.
Which is what I wrote the first time.
Disgusted
June 27th, 2012
7:19 pm
maybe, just maybe, he’ll secure his legacy and, with or without Kennedy, will vote to uphold.
One veteran SC watcher tonight predicts that it will be upheld, but with a warning that the mandate can apply only to healthcare because of healthcare’s uniqueness and that Congress should not use such a mandate for other commercial services.
Towncrier
June 27th, 2012
7:19 pm
From the AP:
“…Issa wants internal communications from February 2011, when the administration denied knowledge of gun-walking, to the end of that year, when officials acknowledged the denial was erroneous. Those documents covered a period after Fast and Furious had been shut down.”
Why is that request unreasonable given the contradiction in testimony?