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KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN -- Canadian soldiers should join local forces fighting Taliban insurgents inside Pakistan, Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor says, making a tentative first attempt at raising the explosive issue of foreign troops trespassing on Pakistani territory. Mr. O'Connor held meetings with several military and intelligence officials in Islamabad yesterday in which he urged his counterparts to step up their actions against the insurgents who emerge from hideouts in Pakistan to attack Canadian troops in southern Afghanistan. "Among other things, I suggested that some Pakistan officers be stationed with our troops in Kandahar and Canadian troops be stationed on the Pakistan...

(KDKA) PITTSBURGH The man next in line to replace Mayor Bob O’Connor will be sworn in tonight. At 10:30pm, City Council President Luke Ravenstahl will officially become the next mayor of Pittsburgh. At 26 years old, Ravenstahl will be the youngest mayor in the city’s history. Earlier today, he told reporters he was ready. “My experience and my actions on council here over the last two-and-a-half years,” Ravenstahl cited. “I’ll let the people decide that. That is an issue that many will raise. “I’m here. I’ve been the president, I have been elected by my district, I have been elected...

(KDKA) PITTSBURGH It's the news people in Pittsburgh and beyond have been dreading; this afternoon, Dick Skrinjar announced that Mayor Bob O'Connor has passed away. O'Connor had been hospitalized since July 10th after learning that he suffered from a rare form of cancer called primary central nervous system lymphoma. On Monday, doctors downgraded the mayor's condition after revealing that brain scans showed "seizure activity" and tests indicated an infection in his spinal fluid. The hospital stopped issuing updates on Mayor O'Connor's condition on Tuesday, which fueled rumors and speculation about his deteriorating condition. Sources told KDKA late Wednesday night that...

Mayor O'Connor Near Death POSTED: 11:06 am EDT August 31, 2006 UPDATED: 11:23 pm EDT August 31, 2006 PITTSBURGH -- A representative has confirmed the suspected gravity of Mayor Bob O'Connor's medical situation late Thursday night.After a nearly two-month battle with a rare form of brain cancer, O'Connor was taken off life support and is living "hour to hour," mayoral spokesman Dick Skrinjar said.The mayor was resting comfortably with family and close friends by his side at UPMC Shadyside, according to Skrinjar.As long as he is alive, O'Connor will remain the city's mayor -- a job he has held for...

O'Connor Still In Intensive Care POSTED: 4:11 pm EDT August 28, 2006UPDATED: 6:37 pm EDT August 29, 2006PITTSBURGH -- Pittsburgh Mayor Bob O'Connor remains in intensive care at UPMC Shadyside Hospital after doctors spent Tuesday putting him through neurological tests to find out the exact cause of his seizures and his downward turn.After undergoing surgery on Monday, the hospital's latest statement on O'Connor was that he was in serious condition."I was with my classmate, Father Terry, and Judy O'Connor was there, and some other family and friends," said Father Thomas Burke, a family friend of the O'Connors. "We had some...

Mayor Bob O'Connor was admitted to UPMC Shadyside today to begin treatment for primary central nervous system lymphoma.

Aaron Harber of the Aaron Harber show (harbertv.com) has an interview with Justices Breyer and O’Connor tomorrow afternoon, and he has solicited SCOTUSblog readers to help him formulate some questions for the two Honorable interviewees. So, if you have a query or two about the law or the Court that you think would be appropriate for either of the two Justices, post it as a comment on this post or e-mail jharrow [at] akingump.com by 1:00 PM Eastern Time tomorrow, Thursday, July 6. Hopefully, we can send Aaron a few good questions and he will report back to us with...

As the Supreme Court wraps up its session, there has been so far fairly little attention paid to the fact that this is when U.S. Supreme Court retirements are typically announced. All of the last 14 retirements were announced between May 14th and October 1st of their respective years; the last to retire outside of those dates was Charles Whittaker, whose doctor ordered him to retire on account of a worsening disability making it impossible for him to sit at his bench. Of those 14, 9 announced their retirement between June 12 and August 3rd, a space of only seven...

Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor told a University of Minnesota audience Tuesday night that she has been "saddened and disturbed" by the verbal attacks on state and federal judges that have been made by member of Congress who disagree with their decisions. O'Connor said lawmakers, who she didn't name, have threatened retaliation against judges -- including "mass impeachments" and cutting off court jurisdictions from certain kind of cases -- for decisions that are politically unpopular. Such efforts to politicize the court jeopardize the balance of powers, O'Connor said, and defy the wisdom of the framers of the Constitution,...

"There are people," says Jesuit Father John Foley, with a hint of a smile, "who have complained that we wrecked the whole tradition of church music." "We" meaning the St. Louis Jesuits, whose collaborative composing efforts remain arguably the single greatest influence on contemporary liturgical music of the post-Vatican II era. Writing Scripture-based music (itself a revolution of sorts) in a style of music that was more in keeping with that of the secular world and thus more familiar to many ears (itself not just revolutionary but heretical, in the minds of some --- and nothing less than musical manna,...

Hard to believe how the time's flown, but six years ago tonight, John Cardinal O'Connor passed from our midst much too soon. How quickly we forget. In his final years, as he wound down his ministry as archbishop of New York, I was immeasurably blessed to know the cardinal, to meet up with him every so often, and to have received a good bit of his wisdom, humor and the lessons he had picked up along the way. His kindness to a young upstart was a gift which remains alive with me constantly. At sunset on 3 May 2000,...

 The stars must have been aligned that January morning in 1955 when John G. Roberts Jr. was born in Buffalo, N.Y., because almost everything thereafter led him straight to the Supreme Court of the U.S. He graduated from Harvard College, then excelled at Harvard Law School as well as in his work at the U.S. Attorney General's office. It was there that our paths first crossed, for he helped prepare briefing papers for my confirmation hearings to the Supreme Court in 1981. He was later a successful litigator and partner at the Washington firm of Hogan & Hartson. He argued...

Last night the President and First Lady held a retirement dinner in honor of Justice O Connor at the White House. Today the President delivered remarks to the Small Business Week Conference at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington. Today was Andy Card's last day at the White House. Later in the day the Presdent departed from the White House to spend the Easter weekend with his family at Camp David. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met Canadian Foreign Minister Peter MacKay at the State Department Enjoy your visit to Sanity Island

Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor is concerned about the state of politics in Washington. Even with a script in front of her about the sacrifices America's Founding Fathers made to write a fledgling country's Constitution, the 76-year-old justice took the opportunity Friday in Salt Lake City to lament current events - including the war in Iraq and the muddled separation of powers in the nation's capital, where the president, Congress and the courts attempt to restrain each other. "We as a nation face many challenges," O'Connor said. "I'm worried about the stability of the constitutional system of...

WILLIAMSBURG - Sandra Day O'Connor said yesterday that she was sad that a woman was not chosen to fill the U.S. Supreme Court seat opened by her retirement. "I was disappointed to see the women on the Supreme Court drop by 50 percent," O'Connor told an audience of more than 700 students at the College of William and Mary.

WILLIAMSBURG (AP) -- Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor traded judge's robes for an academic gown yesterday as she was installed in the honorary post of chancellor of the College of William & Mary. < snip > Mrs. O'Connor succeeds former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger, who was appointed in 2000 to replace former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. William & Mary was chartered in 1693 by King William III and Queen Mary II. The chancellor serves as an adviser to the president and an advocate for the school and meets occasionally with students and faculty. Until...

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York announced plans yesterday for the most sweeping reorganization in its history of more than 150 years, recommending the closing of 31 parishes and 14 schools throughout the metropolitan region.At the same time, the archdiocese recommended creating five new parishes in Staten Island, Orange County and Dutchess County and constructing several new church buildings, mostly in northern Westchester County, Rockland County and Dutchess County, where many Catholics who have left the city have relocated.The closings would hit the archdiocese the hardest in its southern parts — the Bronx, Staten Island, Manhattan, Yonkers and central...

Speeches by Supreme Court justices are usually sleepy civics lessons studded with references to the Federalist Papers and the majesty of the law. That seems to be changing. This month, former Justice Sandra Day O'Connor told an audience at Georgetown University that a judiciary afraid to stand up to elected officials can lead to dictatorship. Last month, speaking in South Africa, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said that the courts were a safeguard "against oppressive government and stirred-up majorities." ....... The recent speeches, said Kermit L. Hall, the editor of "The Oxford Companion to the United States Supreme Court," may be...

<p>WASHINGTON – Now that she's left the Supreme Court, Sandra Day O'Connor has a few things to get off her chest. One of the first was to warn that the nation could slide into dictatorship if harsh critiques of the judiciary – from the likes of Texas Sen. John Cornyn and Rep. Tom DeLay – go unanswered.</p>

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor used a speech at Georgetown University to attack pro-life lawmakers who sided with Terri Schiavo's parents in their efforts to prevent their daughter's euthanasia death. She claimed a Congressional effort to have federal courts review the case was a first step towards a dictatorship. O'Connor, who backs abortion, announced her retirement last year and was recently replaced by federal appeals court judge Samuel Alito, who pro-life advocates hope will be more open to upholding laws that protect the right to life. "We must be ever-vigilant against those who would...