BunnyBlinks

Mother’s Day in Madison

BunnyBlinks — Mon, 09 May 2011 05:35:30 +0000

Considering this is only my second Mother’s Day without my mom, I wasn’t really expecting to have so much fun, busting out the toy piano to celebrate Wisconsin mothers standing against corrupt Governor Walker.

Sarah Palin comes to Madison …

BunnyBlinks — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 22:06:58 +0000

… and gives her most inspiring speech yet!

Cooperatives and Education.

BunnyBlinks — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 05:28:41 +0000

@BunnyBlinks
Greg Brown

Know of a high school or college/university that's owned & operated cooperatively by teachers/students/parents? Send me a link. #cooperative

April 15, 2011 12:23 am via webReply RetweetFavorite

BunnyBlinks — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 05:14:18 +0000

@billmaher
Bill Maher

Its officially tax day! Or as its known at G.E., "Friday"

April 14, 2011 11:08 pm via OpenBeakReply RetweetFavorite

I went to Spain.

BunnyBlinks — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 08:49:06 +0000

On the Day I Was Born …

BunnyBlinks — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 07:50:18 +0000

… this song

beat out this song for the number one spot on the US charts:

Weird that I’d never actually heard either tune. Not weird that John Lennon will remain my favorite Beatle.

Voting: On My Own.

BunnyBlinks — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 07:32:57 +0000

You may vote more than once, but please remember the results are legally binding.

A Shout Out to Union Cab!

BunnyBlinks — Sat, 01 May 2010 05:38:21 +0000

The cooperative where I work got some welcome media attention tonight courtesy of Bill Moyers Journal. It’s inspiring to hear it from someone else’s mouth — especially when someone else is Jim Hightower.

Watch the video at this link. The cool stuff (beginning about 15 minutes into the video) is transcribed below.

JIM HIGHTOWER: Well, you support those that support us. And there are corporations that do that. But you also do something else. And that is devise alternatives. There’s a huge cooperative movement in America that you almost never hear about. There are some 72,000 co-ops operating today. Most of them are consumer co-ops. There are insurance co-ops. There are health care co-ops. There are food co-ops, of course. There are banking co-ops. There are all kinds of cooperatives out across the country. And those entities have 120 million people participating in them. Members.

You never hear about this movement. I’ve worked with a number of them. There’s a great one, Madison Cab Company. Union Cab Company, Madison, Wisconsin. A bunch of cabbies going broke back in the ’70s. Getting treated like Kleenex by the manager. And so, they formed a union. And the owner said, well, hell with that. I’m not dealing with any union. You know, I’ll just sell the thing.

So, they said, well, what the hell. We do the work here. You know, we do the dispatching and the driving and mechanical work. We could run it. So, they created a co-op. And they had a lot of ups and downs. But over the next 30 years, they were able to make it. And it’s the most successful cab company in all of Madison, Wisconsin. They get a high consumer approval rating.

And I learned about this, because I rode a cab to the airport there in Madison once. And the guy turned around, full body, by the way, to look at me in the back. And you know, you’re in a union cab. And I said, well, no, I didn’t. And then he told me the story. But he said, he was one of the original founders. And he had been able to put his two kids through college driving a cab. Because the owners were the workers themselves. And doing a great service to the public.

Nearly 31 years in business (nine of which I’ve been a part), Union Cab is still thriving. And unlike many of the Fortune 500, we haven’t had to steal taxpayer dollars to stay in business. Which reminds me: have you seen this yet?