3 more improbable wins away

Ukraine is just 3 more improbable wins away from World Cup history. See article below:

"Ukraine toasted its football heroes on Tuesday after the team defied expectations to secure a place in the quarter-finals of their first-ever FIFA World Cup™ by beating Switzerland 3-0 in a penalty shoot-out.
"It seemed impossible but it happened. It was beyond strength but the strength was found,"

"Let's call it like it is: They're heroes," one sports commentator said at the end of a match that the Ukrainians won after the game had finished locked at 0-0 after extra time.
Thousands of Ukrainians shouting "U-krai-na!" took to the streets throughout the former Soviet republic after the game that finished in the early hours of the morning. In the capital Kiev, fans virtually took over the centre of town for hours, waving the blue and yellow national standard from honking cars and motorcycles.
In the western city of Lviv, hundreds converged on the central square singing the national anthem. In the eastern city of Dnipropetrovsk, they celebrated until sunrise. "This is more than a dream," exalted one fan in Kiev. "Our guys are the best!"
Ukraine has been in need of some good news and its football team has provided it.
"The successful performances of the Ukraine team are working to unite Ukraine and instil patriotism," President Viktor Yushchenko said after congratulating the team on their historic win, according to a statement from his office.
"The president thanked the players and training staff for the wonderful present that they have given their fans," the statement said.
The victory over Switzerland was all the more sweet because it was largely unexpected from a team making their first-ever appearance at the FIFA World Cup and beaten 4-0 by Spain in their opening match at the tournament.
"I don't think that anyone really believed in us," head coach Oleg Blokhin said in a post-match interview, according to the Interfax news agency. "Many people had long ago written us off, thinking that debutants can't be competitive against experienced teams. Today we proved that we know how to play football. I'm in seventh heaven."
In a nation where the average monthly wage is 185 dollars (147 euros) and where nationals need a visa to get into the EU, the number of fans able to travel to Germany to support the team has been few, and most have had to contend with watching the matches at home.
But the whole nation seems to have caught the football bug - fans watch the matches on screens set up in the nation's major cities, most bars and restaurants broadcast the games and overflow with clients; lawmakers wear team jerseys to parliament and business comes to a standstill during the matches."

Canada needs more nation builders

Bevilacqua proposes expansionist immigration policy
CAMPBELL CLARK Globe and Mail June 24 2006
OTTAWA — Canada needs to double the flow of immigrants into the country to build up its population and drive economic growth, Liberal leadership candidate Maurizio Bevilacqua said Friday.
In a bold proposal to throw open the doors to the country, Mr. Bevilacqua proposed that Canada expand its immigration system beyond filling holes in the labour market, bringing in far more foreign relatives of Canadians to expand the population.
His proposal calls for Canada to increase its immigration rate immediately to 1 per cent of the population, or about 325,000 people, rather than the roughly 240,000 a year it brings in now. By 2016, he would increase immigration to 1.5 per cent of the population, which would be about 490,000 people a year based on the current population.
“We can't be timid,” Mr. Bevilacqua said in an interview Friday. “I have very much an expansionist view of Canada.”
Canada needs to recruit workers and deal with labour-market needs, but also must engage in nation-building, Mr. Bevilacqua said.
Canada's relatively low birth rate means that its future population and work-force growth will come from its aboriginal population and immigration, he said.
“We need more people, and secondly, we have an aging society,” he said, arguing that immigration growth would fuel economic activity.
But it is not an idea without critics. Some contend Canadian society cannot absorb an increased flow of newcomers, while some economists argue that unless Canada is careful to select immigrants who will succeed economically, the average standard of living will fall, even if the economy grows in size.
Mr. Bevilacqua's immigration proposals also call for the federal government to help more immigrants settle outside the major cities, including through programs where provincial governments choose immigrants; making it easier for foreign students to stay in Canada; speeding the recognition of foreign credentials; and recruiting more immigrants under the age of 35.
Mr. Bevilacqua argued that while Canada's immigration policy has looked to recruit newcomers with specific qualifications, it would be wise to expand “relational immigration” — bringing in more relatives of people already in Canada.
Those ties to Canadians not only promote social cohesion, but studies show they also allow immigrants to adapt and thrive more quickly, he said: “It takes them a shorter period of time to succeed.”
The policy proposal is probably good leadership politics. Mr. Bevilacqua's immigration proposals come just 10 days before the deadline for new Liberal Party members to be eligible to vote in the leadership race, and Canada's immigrant communities have traditionally been fertile recruiting grounds.
Other candidates, notably Joe Volpe and Gerard Kennedy, have placed an emphasis on immigration in their campaigns, but none has proposed such a major expansion.
“Insofar as people may be attracted to this view of immigration and this view of nation-building, it may help,” Mr. Bevilacqua said. “But that certainly was not the objective.”

AC Milan made a huge mistake...

Giving up on Sheva like that...not that playing in England will do anything to improve his play!

When the world falls apart

Stephen Harper's Canada is a place where the Prime Minister thinks that it's OK to cut education and gun control, unfortyunately he also opposes a clean environment and a better quality of life for Aboriginal Canadians. Maybe we should all just boycott Stwephen Harper this Canada Day.