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Wednesday, May 21, 2008

O Mama

I've read a number of posts from various people touting one candidate or another this primary season... In light of last night's results, I saw something from Mark Steyn that makes sense to me.

I really have to wonder why any Sikh who supports the Democrats in the US, would abandon H. Rodham Clinton to support B. Hussein Obama?

BHO just seems too much like a "Johnny Come Lately", for me, and it seems for increasing numbers of Democrats and Americans, who generally don't trust him either.

HRC has supported Sikhs consistently as far as I can tell, along with her husband, while BHO referred to her disparagingly as the "Senator from Punjab". Instead of following the herd perhaps Sikhs should remember that a defining trait of Sikhs generally is to not forget a favour or a friend.

In my opinion, the Clintons have been friends of the Sikh community for years, and I am neither a Republican or a Democrat.

From The Corner,
Moving Barackwards [Mark Steyn]

Byron's analysis of the Clinton/Obama numbers is very sound, but I wonder if in dividing primary season into quarters he doesn't miss a cruder point: For the last three months, Mrs Clinton has been deemed to be in trouble and been urged ever more frantically to pack it in and get the hell out. Yet the more Senator Obama has been the nominee presumptive, the more Democrat voters have refused to warm up to him. In Kentucky, he lost not just the usual groups by the usual margins - white working-class men by a gazillion per cent, etc - but Mrs Clinton also won college graduates and "the young": two groups allegedly especially star-struck by the Obamessiah.

There's no precedent in modern primary history for a candidate growing weaker* the more his nomination becomes inevitable. His boast of finally getting a majority of pledged delegates - or whatever cockamie Democrat arithmetical milestone he reached last night - felt like a steam train running out of coal. He's still moving uphill, just about, but ever slower ...and slower ...and slo..w...er.

If I were a party bigwig, I'd be unnerved by some of these numbers. The media have fallen for Senator Obama, but the louder they trill "I'm in love, I'm in love, I'm in love, I'm in love, I'm in love with a wonderful guy!", the more Democratic voters refuse to singalong.

By the way, if Hillary had been campaigning the way she's doing now this time last year instead of doing the queenlier-than-thou Barbra Streisand routine, she'd have won.

[UPDATE: *Poorly phrased: I should have said there's no precedent for a candidate getting "so weak". Obviously, presumptive nominees from Mondale to Dole managed to frost up the base as primary season wore on - but not to this degree, and not to the point where 50% of Democrat primary voters in Kentucky tell pollsters they wouldn't vote for Obama in November.]

05/21 07:52 AM

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Saturday, May 03, 2008

Sikhs Take Heart

I've been reading with increasing frequency about Sikhs in the news in Canada or in blog posts. Usually the only time as far as I can tell a Sikh is mentioned by religious belief is when there's something negative or a controversial angle to the story.

So when I saw a post on the blog Dust my Broom, and Mai of Road to Khalistan responding, I thought I should make my two cents known.

Here's what I wrote,
Since when did it become illegal or extremist in Canada to legally promote any particular cause? No one is going around killing people wantonly in the streets. There aren't any riots breaking out. No one in the Sikh community supports the people behind the Air India bombing. Some fool kid makes a bogus threat on the internet in a comment section and its the entire Sikh community that should be held accountable? Hold yourself and every other identifiable Canadian group to those standards and we can talk... When the MSM starts identifying every Euro-Canadian's ethnicity and religion when they commit a crime, let me know...

IF you think Sikhs who want an independent Khalistan are extremists, you should note that many of the Sikhs in Canada who believe in promoting an independent Khalistan were born free in Canada. We went to the schools here and learned about human rights and what rights actually exist in a free society. If anything Canada has afforded us the opportunity as Sikhs and Canadians to know what freedom of religion really means.

Using your logic of labeling Canadian Sikhs as extremists or fundamentalist if they want an independent Khalistan created, then any Canadian who supported an indepenedent homeland for Tibetans, Palestinians, Kosovars, East Timorese, Armenians, Georgians, Ukrainians, Irish, Croats, Bosnians, etc... are all extremists and fundamentalists.

There's something called the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in this country and Canadian Sikhs will exercise their legal rights to the full. This isn't a popularity contest. In fact the more the MSM and canadian bloggers choose to turn Canadian Sikhs into some sort of bogey the less Sikh Canadians actually care what those detractors think.

Sikhs have fought and died for the Queen. We have every right to live and do what we want legally in Canada which is still under her authority. This is our homeland as much as anyone else's. Sikhs paid for the right to this land with blood and honour in both world wars and as part of the British Army in every country or land where the British Crown chose to tread.

You aren't so much interested in dialogue with Sikhs as you are in lecturing Sikhs about what they should or shouldn't do. No one in the Sikh community is promoting hate against anyone else. Sikhs don't hate Hindus or Muslims or Christians or Jews. No one preaches hate in our religious places. We just have something against anyone who has killed our co-religionists for wanting to practice our religion. We will oppose anyone who would deny us our religious rights, history or traditions. We've survived 3 attempted genocides. Our history is rich with bravery and courage. We are survivors and your words or labels will not deter us from the truth.

Our faith and recognition of our martyrs is non-negotiable. Now why don't you go enjoy your Saturday. I know I will.