Larry Elder

"They wanted to shut down 'Big Tobacco.'" Thus explained a juror who agreed to award $20 million in punitive damages against Philip Morris and R. J. Reynolds. Now, get this. The plaintiff, now dying of cancer, began smoking at 13 -- several years after the Surgeon...

"A local hero." That's how a spokesperson for Los Angeles police described the "heroics" of Willie Fulgear. Who is Willie Fulgear? Shortly before the recent Academy Awards ceremony, Roadway Express shipped 55 gold-plated Oscar statuettes. Horrors! Someone stole the...

TODAY, CONGRESS APPROVED the $300 billion Universal Support Enablement Law for Evaders of Suitable Skills, known as the USELESS bill. USELESS supporters call the measure's passage a statement to people with no work skills, bad attitudes, poor personal hygiene, that...

Senator John McCain lost his bid to become his party's nominee, and "core" Republicans cheered. No, not because of McCain's alleged fiery temper, or his Gore-like economic plan, or his silly crusade against Big Tobacco -- an industry both lawful and subsidized by the...

The double standard slaps you in the face. Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania. Ronald Taylor, a black man, allegedly guns down five whites, killing three. What followed became a textbook case on how contemporary American journalism deals with race. The suspect's motive could...

Not Guilty. An Albany, N.Y. jury, consisting of four blacks, acquitted four white officers charged in the shooting death of West African Amadou Diallo. The undercover cops, looking for a rapist, cornered Diallo in the vestibule of his Bronx apartment. They ordered him...

O. J. Simpson, the only man in America more accessible to the press than John McCain, claims vindication. Simpson told Newsweek, "I feel vindicated. It is now loud and clear that these guys are capable of planting evidence and framing people. This is not something...

"Can anybody explain this to me -- why is it that nearly all our contestants are white men? I'm a white man, so you know I have nothing against them, but come on. We would really like a little more diversity." Last week, Regis Philbin, host of "Who Wants To Be a...

THANK YOU, Donna Brazile. If Hollywood is smart, they would send this lady a dozen long-stem red roses. I'll explain. NBC, along with the other major networks, faced an NAACP boycott for failing to increase minority hiring. Under pressure, NBC just agreed to add...

"What's he really done in life?" A Montgomery civil rights worker posed this question about Martin Luther King III -- the eldest son of legendary civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. Pretty heavy thing, being named King III, and now he stands accused of lacking...

"White racism exists," "National Review" editor John O'Sullivan once said, "But its social power is weak. And the social power against it, overwhelming." Too bad white Atlanta Braves relief pitcher John Rocker did not consult with O'Sullivan before Rocker shot his...

"I was spellbound." A black minister, attending a speech by Democratic presidential candidate Bill Bradley, made this gushing assessment. Bradley addressed 150 black ministers in Los Angeles, at an annual meeting of the Congress of National Black Churches. What caused...

"Exodus of female recruits signals trouble for military!" "Military women less likely to advance!" A new Defense Department study on bias in the military prompted these hysterical headlines. For those who thought the military an example of growing fairness and...

Well, at least it's not about race. Reverend Jackson intervened on behalf of seven black Decatur, Illinois, high school students, expelled for inciting a brawl at a high school football game. "This isn't about black and white," he insists, "but wrong and right."...

In an ideal world, the reporter would have been Jim Gray-ed. Instead, Andy Hiller, a reporter for WHDH-TV, the NBC station in Boston, got big headlines. He asked GOP candidate George W. Bush a series of four questions. Name the heads, asked Hiller, of the following...

It's on. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention just released a new study. Americans, say the CDC, face a new epidemic -- fat people. The CDC calls nearly 18 percent of Americans "obese," meaning that nearly one in five of us weighs more than 30 percent above...