but I think there is ample evidence that GE has some strong connections to the Bush* war machine and I need no tinfoilhat to come to that belief, only a computer, an internet connection, a browser and faith in a site I trust:
http://www.publicintegrity.org/wow/bio.aspx?act=pro&ddlC=23Windfalls of War
General Electric Company
Background
General Electric is a diversified technology, manufacturing and services company, which produces transportation equipment, aircraft engines, consumer and industrial appliances, lighting, nuclear reactors, medical equipment and plastics. It owns the NBC television network, a global media powerhouse with significant holdings in broadcast and cable television and the Internet. GE's financial and insurance divisions account for nearly half of the company's sales, making the company one of the largest financial services companies in the United States. The company has operations in more than 100 countries, a workforce of more than 315,000, and 2002 revenue of over $131 billion. GE ranks fifth in the Fortune 500.
Not surprising given its size, GE spends considerably to advocate its interests. In 2001 and 2002, the company spent more than $31 million lobbying Congress, federal agencies and the Executive Office of the President on issues touching on virtually all aspects of its operations: defense appropriations, environmental cleanup, energy, science and technology, aviation, banking and finance, telecommunications, domestic and foreign trade, foreign relations and taxation. GE spread its lobbying business among many individual lobbyists and lobbying firms, both in-house and outside. It spent $16 million on overall lobbying in 2000, twice what it spent in 1999.
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Former CEO Jack Welch was a George W. Bush supporter and a major Republican contributor. Two weeks before his inauguration, Bush invited Welch and other CEO's (including Enron's Ken Lay) to Texas for a summit. Bush reportedly considered Welch for a Cabinet position and, in the summer of 2001, sent members of his administration to lobby the European Union in support of GE's proposed merger with Honeywell, which the EU ultimately rejected.
Throughout 2001, California Congressman Henry Waxman accused Welch of intervening in NBC's 2000 election night coverage and pressuring the network to prematurely declare Bush the winner. Welch admitted he attended an election night party at NBC's headquarters and that he cheered for Bush but denied interfering with coverage decisions. When the major network and cable news division heads were called before Congress in January 2001 to account for the election night debacle, the president of NBC News offered Waxman access to internal videotapes made of Welch on election night, only to withdraw the offer just days later.
Around the time of the 2000 election, when the Environmental Protection Agency was deciding whether to order GE to clean a section of New York's Hudson River allegedly despoiled by waste products expelled from the company's industrial plants, GE spent millions on lobbyists, campaign contributions and advertising. GE's cadre of lobbyists included several former members of Congress, including George Mitchell and Robert Livingston.
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