Whats good people, apologies for not having posted anything in a while, just been busy enough to not really get a chance to rant or speak on the various different things going on, even though there has been a lot. So I figured best way to do it was take all those rants and opinions and put them into a digest and just keep going with things.

The media
The media ideally is the voice of the people that it supposedly represents. Even though you could argue whether or not its society who influences the media or the media who influences society, ideally both can hold shared custody for what’s happening and being expressed.

For instance this Khadr case. I’m not a big of Khadr of his or his family, lets face it, if they had their way Canada would have been burned to the ground by now. At the same time I’m not fan of the States and their foreign policies or Guantanamo Bay, but at same time why all the attention. I agree human rights are being violated, and Khadr’s a Canadian and all, but by no means is he the naive tortured soul who was at the wrong place at the wrong time. He is no child solidier, so lets stop painting him out to be one. To his people, he’s a martyr who represents all that is still good with Islam, and their beacon of hope that others will take up arms like he did. So if you want to praise him as your hero then let him face a martyrs sentence , and face things head on and stop painting him to be an innocent bystander who is being unjustifiably tortured at the hands of the evil anti-islamic tyrant machine, in the United States. Lets not forget the fact that even after killing a US solider by means off tossing grenades, Khadr is still alive, which is more then he would have been if the roles were reversed (had he been a United States soldier captured by his people).

Toronto Star columnist, Rosie DiManno , wrote a piece to the very same tone a few weeks back which is worth the read still, check it out here.

Also whats up with this Micheal Vick thing. I agree fighting dogs isn’t exactly humane but neither is hunting or breading animals for their flesh. So what if he was part of an underground activity that may have involved killing or torturing dogs. 90% of society contributes to the killing and slaughtering of animals on a daily basis. Get rid of our double standards, if you’re against Vick then stop eating meat and put on your PETA shirt, otherwise just shut up. No point in justifying your cruel and unusual torture as being any more ethical then his. In light of this, I’m going to order me a Micheal Vick jersey

UFC 74
Maybe its just me, but I can’t help but to look forward to Gonzaga vs Corture. Mostly because I just don’t know what to expect from Gonzaga. Being a Corture fan I would love to see him show us why he’s the best, but Gonzaga beat Cro-Cop, a man who I figured was unbeatable by any UFC brass. So with his fall, and the instant rise of Gonzaga I can’t help feel a bit anxious to see what will happen tonight. I’ve heard/read strong arguments for both fighters. End of the day I’m going to have to put my faith in Corture being able to let his experience work for him and have him pull it off, but if not what you going to do, Gonzaga ain’t no chump, or is he?

Events in the GTA
I guess both these events are happening around town as I speak, and I’m on my way out right now to check out both, but for those not in the know:

Yudh Gatka Tournament. In it’s 5th year, promises to bring out the best and brightest Gatka players across North America. Happens at Rexdale Gurdwara today from 12 to proabably about 8 or 9, so go check it out if you’re reading this thinking of something else to do.

Toronto Khalsa Culture Club is hosting their 4th annual indo-pak basketball tournament that has teams from all over North America entering to compete as the Toronto Khalsa team puts its title back on the line. With their big man out, and the 5 pillars and NJ bringing there A-teams, TO definitely has its work cut out for them, but with the pickup of their 15 year old phenom they may just be able to pull it off. So make sure to drop by and check out that tournament as well its going from yesterday totomorrow (playoffs and championship), all day at Sheridan College Brampton Campus in the gym.

6 killed, after truck plows into group doing jago in Abbotsford
Really sad news coming out of the West Coast. I guess we’ll just wait for more news to come out on this, I’m guessing some racial motivation, but left speculating for now. Our sympathies and prayers go out to the families of those involved.

Jagtar Singh Hawara Zindabad
This deserves more then just a mention in a digest so we’ll get to that later.

It’s amazing the things you come across while randomly passing time looking at different Sikh blogs from around the world.

Anyway’s I came across this video from Jagjit Singh’s of Malaysia’s blog, which reminds us to take a moment and reflect on the classics. Hopefully Singh won’t mind that I jacked the video.

Prof. Uday Singh, has over the years earned himself a reputation of being straight with it. Whether he agrees or disagree’s with you he very seldom leaves it to interpretation as to what he means and leaves no doubts about where he stands. Whether he’s writing in favour of certain kakaars over others or against gurdwara committee’s he doesn’t seem to care for who he offends or airs out, but says what he feels needs to be said; whatever it is that he believes to be the truth.  By all means this is a noble and even respectable trait in any person, even if what they say may be hard to swallow. since not everyone will always agree with what he’s saying, but the fact that he’s often the only one saying it the way it is needs to be said still needs to be respected.

It’s for that reason that Kim Bolan’s latest article where she interviews Prof. Uday Singh leaves me both smirking at the fact that he said things the way many conceptualize and feel, yet have me shaking my head thinking, “damn he so shouldn’t have said that”, knowing full well how easily it can be misinterpreted by the general public.

Then again, it is refreshing since I was getting tired of all the politically correct rhetoric that has started to appear all over the place. [You know, those interviews and quotes from Sikhs who continuously try to convince the media and the public that the Kirpan is nothing more then a symbol, that the Sikhs are far from being a martial race and try to compromise the faith at every turn.]

Chullo, Gurparsad, it’s all good, enjoy the article…

No room in his heart for Hindus

Uday Singh, retired professor, is uncompromising in backing the battle for an independent Sikh homeland. He celebrates as ‘our Nelson Mandela’ a man who pleaded guilty in the 1985 Air India bombing that killed more than 300 people

KIM BOLAN

CanWest News Service

Saturday, August 04, 2007

He may be the oldest Khalistan supporter in Canada and 84-year-old Uday Singh does not mince words when he talks about the struggle for a separate Sikh nation.

Though Singh says he is financially “stretched,” the retired Laurentian University math professor has for years sent a monthly cheque to the family of Inderjit Singh Reyat because he believes the convicted B.C. bomb-maker is “our Nelson Mandela.”

He also gave financial support to Air India bombing suspect Ajaib Singh Bagri during his trial.

Despite Reyat’s guilty plea in the 1985 Air India bombing, Singh believes Reyat was desperate to get out of jail and had nothing to do with Canada’s worst act of terrorism, which was commemorated in Vancouver July 20 with the unveiling of a memorial in Stanley Park.

Reyat’s admission, “it appears to me, is something that was born out of his crying need to get out of jail. His admission is not necessarily a statement of fact,” Singh said in a recent interview at his humble country home near Brampton, Ont. “He is our Nelson Mandela.”

Singh helped arrange the marriage of one of Reyat’s daughters in 2003 to the son of the former Ontario leader of the Sikh militant group Babbar Khalsa as a way of helping Reyat’s family.

“I have every sympathy with the whole family, especially with the mother who has suffered most,” Singh said. “To me, they are like a bunch of flowers, very fragrant and very well-behaved and high-quality people to me.”

Well before Singh immigrated to Canada in 1961, he already believed that Sikhs got a rough ride in India, and he is blunt about his feelings for the Hindu majority there.

“They are our traditional enemies,” he said, adding that Sikhs and Hindus cannot live on the same planet together. “Come on, no, not even as neighbours. Not even in separate countries.”

For 37 years, Singh has run a free school in Toronto, teaching Sikh children history, language and culture. His most famous student was Navdeep Bains, now a Liberal MP. He taught Bains and his wife until a few years ago.

“I have taught many sons of my old students and now even the grandsons of my old students. But it is a good thing. For me it gives me my long life and it gives me my health.”

It was his first book, The Waning and Waxing of the Khalistan Movement, that he believes cost him his Indian passport and the chance to return home.

“I have reason to believe it is this book (that) poisoned them against me and my passport was taken away,” he said.

In it, he outlines his relationship with all the original Canadian leaders of the movement, including those identified in connection with the Air India bombing.

Singh said he helped Talwinder Singh Parmar - the man police identify as the suspected bombing mastermind - escape from India in 1982 after police there had accused him of murder.

He later lost faith in Parmar’s leadership, though he still believes the former Babbar Khalsa founder is innocent in the downing of Flight 182 and the murder of 331 people.

“He suddenly popped up here … he is now dead and he died for the nation … But I was struck with his being unlettered, uneducated - that was striking,” Singh said.

Singh said he offered financial help to the families of Bagri and Ripudaman Singh Malik while they were on trial in the Air India case. Malik’s family declined, but Bagri’s wife took a monthly payment, he said. Both men were acquitted in March 2005 in a verdict praised by Singh.

“No Sikh is guilty of doing that. The Hindu government got it done,” he said, claiming an inquiry in Ottawa will eventually reach that conclusion despite the fact that it has so far focused on a conspiracy by Sikh terrorists from B.C.

Singh believes that Sikhs are entitled to use arms when there is no other way to combat a problem, as the late separatist leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale did before the Indian army raided the Golden Temple at Amritsar in June 1984.

“Whatever the arms are at your disposal, my religion allows me to use them if it is the end of all other means,” he said, praising Bhindranwale as the only real leader the Khalistan movement ever had.

Singh said he doesn’t understand the recent controversy over portraits in temples and parades of Sikh assassins described as martyrs because they killed political opponents in India. The portraits have every right to be on display in Canada, he said. “They did it for us. They punished the evil-doer, which is heroic,” he said.

The Sikh separatist movement in Canada will rise up again, Singh said, referring to the title of his book.

“It is not dead at all,” he said. “It is waning now, only to wax. It is like you are in a swing - you go down and up again.”

Maybe it’s just me, but I wonder why they get to be ”ultra-Orthodox” when most others get labeled as being fanatics or extremists, when in most cases, (neglecting suicide bombers and those out for the blood of the innocent), the words simply try to describe those who practice or at least attempt to practice their faith in as much of an un-adultered form as possible.

Yet the difference in connotation is often simply ignored.