I came to know about the recent dera riots only the other day. I havn’t really been paying attention to any panthic news for the last little while, but usually when something big happens the news just finds its own way of travelling. Which made the news of the current riots that much more surprising since even fewer people knew about them, and when I did go to ask around, I found I wasn’t the only one in the dark about what was happening.

The underlying story is about the same, Ram Rahim was in Bombay, and a group of Sikhs showed up to protest. Someone in the babas entourage opened fire, prefixing Bhai Balkar Singh, with the honary title of Shaheed. This off course led to even more riots and more protests, and for the most part that’s where things have been since Friday it would seem.

I really got nothing to add to the story, and like most others in the dark, I’m just trying to piece together what’s what. All the same, as is customary when crisis like this happens the news is often slow to trickle out, especially from reliable sources.

Here are some vids I pulled off of youtube that highlight just some of the agitation that’s going on and check out Panthic.org for updates. Also while the blogsphere is pretty dead on the whole thing there is one blog in particular - http://gururamdass.blogspot.com/, which seems ahead of the curb on the happenings.

Anywyas here are some of the vids I scoured from youtube, and I noticed there are even a few others on facebook in addition to groups that seem to be filling up quick with updates, pics and other tid bits so if you’re on that check those out.

May want to bring your speakers down a notch before watching the following clip:

With the NCAA tourney going on and everything else happening, I don’t know how many folks managed to catch last nights Strikeforce Fight event which featured Cung Le vs “The Legend” Frank Shamrock, but those who missed it, really missed out.

Being a fan of Frank ever since his old Lions Den,championship days I couldn’t help but wanting a part of me to see him win. At the same time Cung Le had champion written all over him, and although not having watched him fight on many of his previous occasions looking him up and catching his highlights showed that this man is destined to be a future hall of famer, and he didn’t disappoint last night.

For those who missed out, I scoured the net and here’s a copy of the fight, as usual I don’t expect this video to remain live for to long, so if its dead just search for it in the all usual places:

Although Cung Le’s still pretty green and still has ways to go before he’ll be considered a member of the elite and be considered a challenge for the likes of Anderson Silva, his victory over Frank, (even if it came at Franks own expense of keeping the fight off of the ground), is a great start for any future champ.

29

Want to be a x-ray technician?

24 for the most part, well the first 4 seasons anyways, was probably one of the better shows on T.V. It’s hard to think though that Jack would be able to pull the same shit if he didn’t have Chloe, satellites or full access to every known encryption key ever created. All the same Jack was Jack way before high-speed modems existed as is seen from the original 94′ 24 pilot.

..

Powered by ScribeFire.

It would seem that John Oakley decided to chime in on the Bruce Allen commentary fiasco by dropping his own little commentary on the mater. Completely ignoring and neglecting the fact that Allen pretty much did an about turn in his ‘apology’ saying that his comments were taken out of context and that he was instead defending and standing up for minorities rather then shitting on them.

All the same, I don’t see how taking cheap shots against a community will bring about any positive discussion, especially since all the incidents that he described have been furiously un-condoned by the community at large. So to bring these back up and to hold them against us, is just petty.

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.