VT: Pub owner acquitted of murder: "A jury deliberated five hours Wednesday before acquitting Timothy Grover of second-degree murder in the shooting death of a Vernon man in November 2004. ... Grover, the father of two children and the owner of Emil's Pub in Brattleboro, was charged with second-degree murder, a crime that carries a sentence of 20 years to life in prison. He was accused of shooting Kellom, a former part-time police officer in Vernon, on Nov. 7, 2004. Jesse Corum, Grover's attorney, had argued that the shooting was justified because Kellom was about to use a baseball bat to strike the 'final, fatal blow' to the head of James Cleveland, a Grover family friend and one of Kellom's neighbors on Homestead Way in Vernon. Grover testified Tuesday that that he told Kellom to drop the bat several times before shooting the 52-year-old man once in the chest with a .22-caliber pistol. He added that Kellom had already knocked Cleveland's wife to the ground and was about to kill his friend."


Firestorm and media brimstoning: "The mainstream media's petulance peaked this week after they disapproved of Vice President Dick Cheney's notification method about his hunting accident in Texas. Once again the White House press corps reminded us that it's not about the story, or the victim, but about them. The usual journalism suspects who always exhibit "objective" criticism of the Bush administration displayed especially feral cattiness, and I'm not even talking about the demonstrative David Gregory of NBC News. No, the think-strained wretches of print did themselves proud as well."