This morning’s recessional hymn on the First Sunday in Advent at Christ Church, Windsor. Hymn #60 in The Book of Common Praise (1938), official hymn book for the whole of The Church of England in Canada (later Anglican Church of Canada).
Lo! he comes, with clouds descending,
Once for favoured sinners slain;
Thousand thousand saints attending
Swell the triumph [...]

The collect for today, the 1st Sunday in Advent, from the 1962 Canadian  Book of Common Prayer:
Almighty God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit [...]

It’s not easy being an all-girl rock band in Saudi Arabia. Not only are women oppressed but rock music is also forbidden.
They cannot perform in public. They cannot pose for album cover photographs. Even their jam sessions are secret, for fear of offending the religious authorities in this ultraconservative kingdom. But the members of [...]

Commenting in today’s National Post on the significance of the Moon Report, Liberal MP Keith Martin says it’s time for Parliament to act on free speech.
While Prof. Moon’s report is excellent, the actual power to implement his recommendations, or any others that relate to the CHRA, resides not with the commission but with Parliament. It [...]

Empirical observations throw doubt on the accuracy of climate models.
A detailed analysis of black carbon — the residue of burned organic matter — in computer climate models suggests that those models may be overestimating global warming predictions.
[…]
As a result of global warming, soils are expected to release more carbon dioxide, the major greenhouse gas, into [...]

Saudi billionaire and banker to the Saudi royal family Khalid bin Mahfouz took a serious dislike to Dr Rachel Ehrenfeld’s book Funding Evil: How Terrorism Is Financed — and How to Stop It. Even though Dr Ehrenfeldt is American and her book was published by an American firm, he decided to sue her for [...]

The long-delayed Gun N’ Roses album Chinese Democracy has finally been released. China is not amused.
A newspaper published by China’s ruling Communist Party is blasting the latest Guns N’ Roses album as an attack on the Chinese nation.
[…]
In an article Monday headlined “American band releases album venomously attacking China,” the Global Times said unidentified [...]

So says British Conservative MP Nick Herbert.
Shadow Justice Secretary Nick Herbert said the controversial act, brought in by Labour, has had the opposite effect of its intentions by devaluing human rights and led to “distorted prioirities” [sic].
He said the result has been to devalue the very language of rights by associating serious violations and abuses [...]

The Canadian Human Rights Commission has released Prof Richard Moon’s report on Section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act and the regulation of hate speech on the internet. I have only read his conclusion but, based solely on that, we can say that the report is not what was expected.
This is the full [...]

Traditional Animal Symbolism
ostrich……………..stupidity; timidity
ox…………………patience; strength
parrot…………….verbosity; insolence
peacock……………..pomposity; pride
pelican……………….sacrifice; Christ
pig………………..obstinacy; dirtiness
pigeon……………………cowardice
rabbit……………………..fecundity
raven………………..ill-luck; violence
serpent………………….wisdom; sin
sheep………………timidity; stupidity
sparrow………………..lasciviousness
spider………………………cunning
stag………………………cuckoldry
swallow………..fair-weather friendship
swan………………………….grace
swine………………..filthiness; greed
tiger……………………….ferocity
toad………………..work; death; lust
tortoise……………………..chastity
unicorn……………spirituality; Christ
vulture……………………….rapine
wolf………………….cruelty; ferocity
worm……………..cringing; lowliness
Source: Page-A-Day Online Calendar

The UK Government is focusing more attention on the long-standing scandal that hundreds of British teenagers—and even pre-teens—are forced to marry against their will. Most cases involve families originally from Pakistan or Bangladesh. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband discloses that his country’s diplomats have intervened hundreds of times in potential forced marriage situations.
So [...]

In 2005 and 2006, Nova Scotia’s judiciary set out guidelines for accreditation of media seeking access to many provincial courts.  At a recent conference on “A Free Press and an Independent Judiciary” held in Halifax, journalists, lawyers, and journalism professors roundly denounced the concept and process of media accreditation.
Dean Jobb, Assistant Professor of Journalism, University [...]

Authorities in the Malaysian state of Pahang are so upset by “slanderous comments” on the internet that the government has hired three pensioners to write respectful blog posts.
The Pahang Government has appointed three pensioners as bloggers to thwart slanderous comments and allegations posted on the Internet.
State Information, Science, Technology and Innovation Committee chairman Datuk Mohd [...]

MP Keith Martin (Lib – Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca) has introduced two private member’s motions to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and rein in the increasingly obnoxious Canadian Human Rights Commission. These latest motions replace and expand motion M-446, which Dr Martin introduced in the previous Parliament.
Ezra Levant has more information.
Here’s the exact wording [...]

This hymn was sing during Morning Prayer at Christ Church, Windsor, while a special collection was taken for the work of the Council of the North. We sang all six of John Newton’s original verses as well as the later additional verse from an unknown hand.
Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch [...]