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• Sunday, November 30, 2008 09:46 AM

  GE - We Bring Good Things to Light

  What a slogan for a company that has been steeped in murder and corruption its entire existence. In Cleveland, General Electric had its incandescent light business for many years. You may have heard of NELA Park, where a famous Christmas light display brought thousands of tourists. GE had chemical plants, light bulb plants, laboratories, tungsten plants, nuke-you-ler facilities and an assortment of bulb-related companies scattered all across Ohio for decades.

  GE employed a LOT of folks here in Cleveland. It was one of my dad's and many vendors in Cleveland's biggest customers. So, I suppose I should begrudgingly thank them for paying for my college education. Thanks, GE.

  But, to give you an idea of what they did to Cleveland when they closed GE Lighting and shipped all the manufacturing to Hungary in the early 90s, with the exception of the tungsten and chemical plants?

  Wasteland. Devastation. Vast and unexpected unemployment.

  Never mind the hazardous waste they left behind. The mercury required to make light bulbs is so poisonous, it's too dangerous to demolish the buildings. GE paid a few million in fines over the years and has left an environmental impact so toxic, areas of blocks are uninhabitable.

  And that doesn't even address the human impact they left.

  I have boycotted GE since 1993. The only thing I watch is Olbermann and a little bit of Maddow. And I watch them on iPod cast, so I don't even see the commercials.

  GE has always been and always will be a Monster.

  —Retzilian Read Retzilian's other letters
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