A judge has dismissed Dan Rather's $70 million lawsuit against CBS, which claimed the network's dismissal of him in the wake of his controversial 2004 report about President George Bush’s military service in Vietnam diminished his reputation and hurt the 77-year-old newsman's employment prospects. Judge James Catterson was fairly harsh on Rather in his ruling. "It would be speculative to conclude that any action taken by CBS would have alone substantially affected [Rather's] market value at that time," he wrote, adding:

“Rather never identified a single opportunity with specified terms that was actually available to him and which he declined to accept because of CBS' actions.”

Rather's lawyers say they plan to appeal, which means we'll get to keep hearing about this until we're all 77 years old.

Breaking: Appellate court dismisses Dan Rather's lawsuit against CBS; Rather vows to appeal [Show Tracker/LAT]