To understand the soul of the Republican Party - Thom examines Newt Gingrich's vision for America. At a time when the middle class is disappearing, with 1-in-2 Americans living in poverty or in low-income households - at a time when wealth inequality is at levels unseen since the Great Depression - at a time when student loan debt is topping a trillion bucks - this is the vision Republican's radical vision of rule by the rich - will be the death of the middle class in America as we know it. And that, is the death of America as we know it. And because all the Republicans pretty much agree with Newt, this is the choice we're all going to face next November, regardless of who is the Republican nominee. A lot of us - myself included - may be disappointed with Democrats - but there's absolutely no way we can let the 1 percent oligarchs who are banking on one of these Republican lapdogs win the White House.

In this week's addition of Geeky Science - Thom explains why one of our founding fathers was way ahead of this time with his diet

Andy Kroll, Mother Jones Magazine joins Thom Hartmann. The recall Governor Scott Walker effort in Wisconsin is about to hit an important milestone. Today - the United Wisconsin coalition - one of the main organizers of the recall campaign - announced that more than 507000 signatures have already been collected - meaning organizers need less than 35000 signatures now to officially trigger a recall election. And they still have more than a month to collect the remaining signatures. That's bad news for Scott Walker. Scott Walker is learning a lesson - and so too should other Republican governors who've gone after union workers - like John Kasich in Ohio and Chris Christie in New Jersey. And that lesson is: Don't mess with working people.

John Knefel, independent journalist & co-host of Radio Dispatch joins Thom Hartmann. What's it like being a political prisoner of the United States? Thom gets the inside story of one journalist's harrowing ordeal in police custody alongside Occupy Wall Street patriots.