It is unclear to me whether Fightin' Franken actually put his hands on somebody in this latest demonstration of aggression, but if he did, isn't it about time that somebody gave him a lesson pertaining to the costs of such unacceptable behavior?

Well with the example of Cheney's "go do to yourself what is anatomically impossible", I really don't think this is any big deal, as long as blows weren't exchanged. I'm sure Franken felt better afterward.

So let's see the contracts and then we can talk about whether reneging actually means anything.

Oh, I don't care about the source of the conflict; who cares about a dispute between two talk radio hosts? It seems to me, however, that Franken has the habit of putting his hands on people that he has disagreements with. This is unacceptable for a number of reasons, and leads to truly serious problems.

I once was at a contract negotiation as a minor party, and witnessed the communication grow increasingly hostile. Finally, one of the major partys leaned over the table and jabbed his finger in the chest of the other major party, at which point this major party (who up until this point had been much less belligerent in his rhetoric that his counterpart) simply grabbed the finger, and bent it back until it was pointing nearly 180 degrees from the normal position (the fellow did have forearms like Popeye, even visibly so in a long sleeved dress shirt). The wounded party sagged, belly down, on the table, and began screaming. His attorney yelled "Hear!! Hear!!". The finger bender calmly turned to him, still grasping the finger, and said, "Hear, hear, my ass. Your client assaulted me, and I won't have it. Get this piece of shit out of my office.", and then released him. I was kinda suprised this didn't up in a civil suit beyond the one that was litigated over the contract dispute.

In any case, one should never put one's hands on anyone, unless one is physically threatened, or protecting someone who is, and even in those instances, one better be prepared to execute violence with some competence.

Will Allen-

That's awesome! Reminds me of something my dad or his brothers would have done.

If Lithpy Boy shows up, you may wish to have a spit umbrella nearby. Franken was raining on producer Lee Habeeb during the altercation.

To paraphrase from Harold Ramis during the around the platoon introductions in the movie STRIPES. 'My father always said "never hit anybody unless you're absolutely sure you can get away with it." I guess that goes for the old finger in the chest. Never poke someone in the chest unless you're absolutely sure your forearms are bigger than theirs (and they're not a martial arts expert!).