The Buzz

Federal court backs Reno's attempt to remove Elian Strike two Castro sí, Elián no. Federal judge Michael Moore took nearly two weeks to side with the Clinton administration and Fidel Castro: He dismissed a lawsuit brought by the family of Elián Gonzalez to keep the 6-year-old in the United States. The judge upheld on March 21 Attorney General Janet Reno's January order that the 6-year-old Cuban be returned to his father's custody in Cuba. Judge Moore's opinion pays respect to the little boy's "survival and courage" and his American family's good intentions, but in the end characterizes the opposing arguments in the case as morally equivalent: "In the final analysis, a well-intended lawsuit filed on behalf of and for the benefit of Elián Gonzalez ran headlong into an equally well-intended attorney general, sworn to uphold the letter and spirit of the immigration law...." Judge Moore said his review of the case "found no abuse" that would warrant overturning immigration decisions. "Therefore," he concluded, "Plaintiff, now six years old, is an unaccompanied, unadmitted alien, subject to removal from the United States at the end of his period of temporary parole." Miami relatives of Elián, who believe that his father does not really want him returned to Cuba but is acting under coercion from the Castro regime, immediately announced their intention to appeal the decision. Despite the negative outcome, the lengthy decision by Judge Moore left open several windows of opportunity on appeal.

In the affidavit, which remained sealed until the judge's ruling, Sister O'Laughlin said her own position on the case, which she had viewed as "a straightforward custody issue," changed after "witnessing the fear which existed in the eyes of Elián's grandmothers." Sister O'Laughlin testified that the grandmothers were clearly intimidated after a private meeting with Odel Marichal, a member of the Cuban National Assembly and of the Cuban National Council of Churches, and with the former head of the National Council of Churches in the United States, Joan Brown Campbell. Sister O'Laughlin stated that current NCC head Bob Edgar admitted to her during the grandmothers' visit that "Castro himself was calling the shots" in the Gonzalez case. In Washington, lawmakers who support a bill to grant citizenship to Elián, which would overrule immigration decisions to send him back to Cuba, said they would not push legislation until court remedies were exhausted. According to Nancy Segerdahl, an aide to Sen. Connie Mack, chief sponsor of the bill, the court decision "just makes us review where it stands. At this point we are watching the legal scenarios and want the family to be able to exercise all its rights." '60s radical caught, charged with murdering police officer Rap sheet Back in the 1960s, H. Rap Brown helped lead the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, but he didn't stay non-violent for long. He soon was the "justice minister" of the Black Panthers, telling his followers that "violence is as American as cherry pie." Ideas have consequences. And today a Georgia sheriff's deputy is dead. The current troubles of Mr. Brown, who now goes by the Muslim name "Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin," started last May. Police allegedly stopped him in a stolen car; he flashed a phony badge at them. When he didn't show up in court last January, an arrest warrant was issued. Mr. Al-Amin was charged with theft by receiving stolen property and impersonating an officer. Things got bloody when Fulton County deputies visited Mr. Al-Amin's Atlanta grocery store and tried to serve that warrant. As the deputies approached a black Mercedes-Benz, the driver got out and started shooting a high-powered assault rifle. When it was over, Deputy Ricky Kinchen was dead and fellow officer Aldranon English (who identified the shooter as Mr. Al-Amin) was wounded. Mr. Al-Amin was next seen 160 miles away near Montgomery, Ala., where he had Muslim contacts. He wasn't hidden long. On March 20, a team of U.S. Marshals spotted him; they say he began shooting and ran into a wooded area, where after more shots they apprehended him. Mr. Al-Amin's attorney, J. L. Chestnut, told the Selma Times-Journal that his client is a "black man framed by the system." He claims the ex-revolutionary is innocent: "He said he did not shoot anyone. He said he did not have a gun. He fled Atlanta to save his life. He said they had been trying to kill him for years. He said it was a real conspiracy." Members of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the American Muslim Council, the Islamic Society of North America, and the Muslim American Society said they would start a legal defense fund for Mr. Al-Amin. Ignoring Greenspan's yellow light Alright already Alan Greenspan said it was coming. The Federal Reserve raised the cost of borrowing-again-in its latest attempt to protect the American economy from overheating. The central bank raised the rate that banks charge on overnight loans from 5.75 percent to 6 percent in the name of stopping inflation. That boost pressed commercial banks, led by Bank of America and Wells Fargo, to raise their prime lending rates-the benchmark for millions of consumer and business loans-to 9 percent, the highest level in five years. Still more hikes are threatened for May 16 and June 28 if the prospect of inflation remains. Mr. Greenspan's argument boils down to a claim that the economy is growing dangerously fast. The Fed's big enemy is the so-called "wealth effect," where the technology-driven boom lets people have more money to spend. "People see the value of their stocks going up consistently," said Alan Skrainka, chief economist for Edward Jones in St. Louis, describing the wealth effect. "They don't mind spending a little of that money with the local retailer." Investors took the news of the rate hike and sent the stock market up, not down. Mr. Greenspan's threats have already spawned a few market corrections, which means bargain-hunting time on Wall Street. The supposedly out-of-control technology stocks were a little shaken, but still strong. The average Joe, however, will face higher mortgage rates and jacked-up credit-card interest.

Ups & Downs of the Week Political momentum for a Palestinian state: Not only did Palestinians receive the blessing of Pope John Paul II, who was visiting Yasser Arafat and opined that the Palestinians have a "natural right to a homeland"; that same day they received their own Internet suffix, ".ps," a two-letter country code that is similar in function to ".com" in U.S. Internet addresses. The Commerce Department OK'd the suffix after a recommendation from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, a newly established private group overseeing the world's Internet address system. The Buzz tosses an environmentally friendly tomato at the Environmental Protection Agency, which was zinged by the General Accounting Office for fudging its Paperwork Reduction Act paperwork. EPA chief Carol Browner misled Congress late last month when she boasted of cutting 26 million hours of paperwork over the past four years. Which is true, but only in a Clintonesque way. She calls it a cut because if it had not been for changes, the paperwork requirement would have been even higher than it is now. The overall paper chase is up: The amount of time citizens spent reporting to the EPA rose by 10 million hours-or 9 percent-between 1995 and 1998. It's projected to grow by another 5 million hours by the end of this fiscal year.

Shootout re-creation inconclusive Waco reenacted A reenactment of the last deadly day of the Branch Davidian standoff in Waco, Texas, in 1993 was supposed to resolve a contentious question: Did FBI agents fire on the home? Special counsel Jack Danforth, appointed by the Justice Department to investigate possible wrongdoing on the part of federal law enforcement, last week oversaw a simulation at Fort Hood of the last hours of the siege, complete with aircraft equipped with infrared cameras, soldiers firing weapons, and rumbling tanks. But the results were apparently inconclusive. Both sides claimed vindication. The chief lawyer for the Davidians, who have filed a civil suit against federal officials, said the reenactment proved that federal operatives fired on the remote side of the Davidians' retreat, Mount Carmel, as it burned. The Feds said the reenactment showed the opposite. And Mr. Danforth isn't talking until he reports the results of his probe. At least until then, the public won't be able to see tapes of the reenactment to make up their own minds. News organizations sued to see the tapes, but the judge's order will keep the footage sealed, for now. Conservative students must fund left Pay up & shut up Some conservative students at the University of Wisconsin didn't like the way the school administration was using their activity fees, so they sued. Their complaint made it all the way to the Supreme Court, where they were rebuffed last week. The court voted unanimously to uphold the University of Wisconsin's student-fee system. That means that public colleges and universities can use money from mandatory fees to finance special-interest groups-even if students find them objectionable. Several law students objected to having some of their money funneled to hardline activist groups like the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Center and the International Socialist Organization. A federal judge and a federal appeals court ruled against the university, but the nation's highest court overturned those decisions.

The No-Comment Zone

Voters defy China, elect pro-independence candidate Taiwanna be free In the days leading up to the March 18 presidential election in Taiwan, communist authorities in China campaigned heavily and heavy-handedly against the frontrunner, who had called for formal independence from communist-led China. Vote for Chen Shui-bian, they warned frankly, and risk war. Taiwanese voters said to Beijing: Go ahead, make my day. Mr. Chen's victory marked the first national win for the Democratic Progressive Party and the first defeat of the Kuomintang, or Nationalist Party, which has ruled Taiwan since 1945. But after the election, both Mr. Chen and the Chinese cooled it. Mr. Chen, 49, sparked dissent in his own party by announcing his willingness to meet with Beijing hardliners. For its part Beijing, which has threatened to reunify Taiwan with the mainland by force, was officially quiet about the election results. Delicate maneuvers to gain entrance to the World Trade Organization and efforts to expand trade with the United States evidently make this no time for saber rattling.

QuickTakes

J. Edgar Hoover's list celebrates its 50th anniversary FBI: Help wanted On March 14, 1950, J. Edgar Hoover launched perhaps the greatest publicity stunt in law enforcement history: the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. The FBI director hit on the idea after a news story about the "toughest guys" on the lam made great waves. The goal was to get the media to cooperate with the feds in helping catch crooks. The Ten Most Wanted concept is a perennially spicy story and the attention puts stress on the bad guys. It replaced the 1930s term "public enemy" to refer to organized crime thugs and fugitives. Looking back on the list's 50 years, the FBI reports that 458 fugitives were added and 429 found. Of these, 137 were located because of tips from private citizens, who can receive a $50,000 reward for their efforts. The crimes dominating the list have become worse, a trend the FBI says reflects its changing priorities. The 1950s version was full of bank robbers, burglars, and car thieves. The 1960s were more revolutionary, and the list focused on destruction of government property, sabotage, and kidnapping. Later years filled the list with terrorists, organized crime figures, and drug criminals. Two men on the list, James Charles Kopp and Eric Robert Rudolph, are wanted for attacks on abortionists. Other nasties include Mexican drug kingpin Ramon Eduardo Arellano-Felix, suspected bomber Osama bin Laden, and organized crime figure James J. Bulger. The actual effectiveness of the Ten Most Wanted list as a crimefighting tool is a little murky. How many of those 137 were caught because of the list? And how would it stop a guy like Osama bin Laden? Nevertheless, it will probably carry on another 50 years at least. -Chris Stamper Dressing down at work: a new national addiction Uptight, but 'casual' What started as "Casual Friday" has developed into a national addiction. Sometime during the 1990s, cubicle dwellers dropped their pinstripe shirts and dress pants for polos and chinos, or something even more informal. But today corporate casual is no longer really casual; it has become a dress code unto itself. The modern employee winds up with two sets of clothes: corporate casual and real casual, like the difference between what school kids wear to impress their classmates and what they run around the backyard in. Comfort isn't the real goal anymore. Stylishness is. So in a work environment that is supposedly more open and human, wearing clothes to fit in actually becomes harder. In the old days, a man could buy coats, ties, shirts, and shoes-and that was that. Now the blueprints are gone. Workers are faced with a cornucopia of fashion decisions crucial for projecting a personal image. Don't just dress casual, dress cool. Or else. -Chris Stamper Photojournalism magazine dies again Life passes away Life is dead. Once one of the most powerful magazines in the world, the bastion of photojournalism will die for the second time in May. A version of it will survive through the Lifemag.com website, special issues, and books. Life's first death in 1972 marked a huge change in the publishing industry-the end of the dominance of mass-circulation magazines and the final victory of television over American pop culture. Now its second death comes as its keepers at Time Inc. are being absorbed into the multimedia world of America Online. The old Life, which Henry Luce launched in1936, was a powerhouse. It showed people what the rest of the world looked like, and they read by the millions. The new Life wandered around looking for a purpose and trying to find the glory of the old days. It took on a sort of curious staleness, reminiscent of Smithsonian or National Geographic. Its concept was simply too wrapped up in the Luce era to be cool today. -Chris Stamper