Sunday Linkblast - Aug 9

• Calgary 911 workers vote overwhelmingly for strike action
  Negotiations continue with a facilitator but legally, they could go out with 72 hours notice.
  
  
• Myths about Unions
  Addressing some of the most common misconceptions deliberately cultivated by employers and reactionary politicians.
  
  
• The biggest cases of corporate fraud against the public in US history
  Are from the private medical corporations fighting tooth and nail against healthcare reform.
  
  
• "Have you no Decency Sarah Palin?"
  Sarah Palin tells a horrific lie to oppose the idea of rationing Healthcare according to medical necessity - but she's fighting to let insurance corporations continue rationing healthcare by poverty.
  
  
• Andrew Sullivan's evolution continues
  A progressive Tory, Sullivan's sympathies were with Republican rhetoric when he arrived in the US. Slowly but surely he begins to see the fear and hatred underneath the calls for 'liberty' from America's political right.
  
  
• Book Signing
  If you're in Calgary on August 15, and you harbour ambitions to conquer the Universe, my friend Matthew is conducting a book signing you need to attend. Facebook link.
  
  
• Fantasy Gardens reclaimed by nature
  Bill Vander Zalm was the toothy religious fanatic who was Premier of BC when I lived there. He owned a breathtakingly tacky 'Christian amusement park' and was forced to resign when he used his position to get a sweet deal when he sold it to a Taiwan businessman. As it decays it becomes more visually interesting than it ever was when it was open.
  
  
• Cheap Fusion
  The power source of the future?
  
  
• Dogs are as smart as toddlers
  And Orangutans are making musical instruments out of leaves. The ongoing reassessment of the limits of animal intelligence continues.