CBS is considering multiple newscasters to replace Dan Rather in the anchor's chair when he steps down in March.

Viacom co-prexy-co-chief operating officer Leslie Moonves said an anchor partnership is being considered as part of a broad rethinking of the "CBS Evening News" franchise, and that no candidates have been ruled out.

"We are exploring every possibility right now," Moonves said. "After the first of the year, we are going to come to a decision and, by the way, it could be more than one person."

The possibility of a second or even a third chair on the "CBS Evening News" set throws a new angle into the anchor-heir handicapping, but it also brings back some sour memories at CBS of the failed partnering of Rather and Connie Chung in 1994, a year before Moonves joined the network.

Anchor duos have produced some of TV journalism's finest moments, such as NBC's Chet Huntley-David Brinkley partnership, which lasted more than a decade, and some of its biggest flops, including Tom Brokaw and Roger Mudd in the early '80s and the Barbara Walters-Harry Reasoner debacle in 1976.

I've got a better idea. I think they should leave the CBS anchor chair empty. Then if anyone actually notices that the chair is empty by, say, 2006, give the chair to the person who actually noticed. Sound like a plan? It makes as much sense as anything else they have been thinking of doing.

President Bush tried on Tuesday to repair U.S.-Canada relations strained by years of bickering over trade and Iraq, although he stood by policies that have irritated Canadians.

He did promise Prime Minister Paul Martin to work toward easing a U.S. ban on Canadian beef.

Even as thousands of Canadian protesters thronged the streets to protest his visit, Bush brushed aside suggestions that his decisions had damaged U.S.-Canada ties. Asked about polls that show Canadian opposition to his policies runs high, Bush pointed to his own re-election this month as the survey that mattered.

"We just had a poll in our country when people decided that the foreign policy of the Bush administration ought to stay in place for four more years," Bush said at a joint news conference with Martin.

"I made some decisions, obviously, that some in Canada didn't agree with, like, for example, removing Saddam Hussein and enforcing the demands of the United Nations Security Council," Bush said.

While he acknowledged no mistakes, Bush joked about his reception here.

"I want to thank the Canadian people who came out to wave, with all five fingers, for their hospitality," he said.

All five fingers? I doubt that would have been Stageleft. Of course, I saw no mention of the #mixedwingnuts logo either. Hmmm.

When a young Hillsborough County teacher was accused this summer of having a sexual affair with a 14-year-old student, many people's first reaction to the notorious case was, 'She's crazy.' Tuesday, Debra Lafave's attorney announced that his client would indeed be using an insanity defense.

…

"The person suffered from mental illness at the time of the offense, and the second prong is to prove that either they did not know what they were doing, or that they did know what they were doing but did not know that it was wrong," he explained.

Is she crazy for having sex with a 14 year old? Definitely. Was she insane? Most likely not. Just stupid. Plain and simple.

Millions of pink locusts swept through one of Spain's Canary Islands on Monday, driving tourists from its beaches.

The swarm reached the island of Fuerteventura from West Africa -95 miles away – late on Sunday and covered an area of some 1 million square metres said Antonio Ortega, director general of the regional agriculture department.

Locusts have destroyed crops in central and western Africa in recent months but Ortega said the flying insects were too tired from their journey across a stretch of the Atlantic to eat much on the Canaries.

You know you are tired when you are too tired to eat.

Simply inhaling a saltwater spray could help prevent the spread of diseases including flu and tuberculosis, U.S. and German researchers reported on Monday.

They found a saline spray, administered using a device called a jet nebulizer, reduced the number of germ-spreading droplets by as much as 70 percent for six hours.

The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could provide a way to help control epidemics such as the 2003 outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome that spread globally and killed many health care workers trying to help patients.

The findings might also help control any global influenza pandemic, which almost all health experts believe is coming and which could kill millions.

The researchers noted much more study was needed before a saline spray device could be marketed to prevent the spread of diseases.

Does this mean they won't have it ready for the "well known coming influenza pandemic"? If so, do you think they might speed it up a bit? :wink: