The nation took another major step toward equal rights for gays and lesbians. On Wednesday - the Washington state House approved gay marriage legislation - one week after the state Senate approved similar legislation. Washington Governor Christine Gregoire is expected to sign the legislation into law making her state the seventh in the nation to give same-sex couples the same rights as straight couples. And earlier this week - a California court struck down that state's Proposition 8 ban on gay marriage as being a violation of the California Constituion. In a 2-1 ruling for the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Stephen Reinhardt wrote for the majority, "Proposition 8 serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and dignity of gays and lesbians in California, and to officially reclassify their relationships and families as inferior to those of opposite-sex couples. "So the movement to achieve equal rights for gays and lesbians is taking off - but not everyone is on board. Joining Thom Hartmann is Maggie Gallagher - she's the co-founder of the National Organization for Marriage - one of the leading groups in the nation working to ensure marriage remains exclusively between a man and a woman in those remaining states that don't yet recognize gay marriage." The history of our nation is one of bringing more and more Americans into the fold - giving them equal rights. And even though we've slid backward at times - the direction of bringing equal ...

Before tens -- if not hundreds -- of thousands of patriots converge to "Occupy Chicago" ahead of joint G8 and NATO summits in May -- there needs to be some housekeeping -- namely, getting rid of the law that forbids people from recording police officers. According to the Illinois Eavesdropping Act of 1961 -- it's illegal to record a police officer -- and those who violate the law could face up to 15 years in prison. Now, one state Representative -- Elaine Nekrits -- is proposing an amendment to the law to allow for recording of police in public spaces. As we've seen during previous occupy demonstrations -- being able to record police has been the best defense against ongoing police brutality -- from New York to Oakland to the University of California at Davis. The amendment has actually gained the support of Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy who argued that videotaping is needed for the protection of both the police and civilians. It's crucial this law is struck down before May's demonstration to ensure that the whole world REALLY is watching.

The question a lot of Republicans are asking themselves right now is - how the heck is Rick Santorum still in this race? Not only still in the race - but surging after winning three straight contests on Tuesday in Missouri, Minnesota, and Colorado. In fact - Santorum has won more states this primary season than Mitt Romney. This this man-on-dog Rick Santorum we're talking about - a guy whose name is synonymous with....well....google it. So how's he doing it? The answer...a guy named Foster Friesse - that guy who was standing behind Rick Santorum on Tuesday night as Santorum delivered his victory speech. Friesse - who used to be a supporter of Romney in 2008 jumped ship - is now using his fortune to be the leading contributor to Santorum's corporate SuperPAC known as the "Red, White, and Blue Fund." He's admitted to giving at least $300000 to the cause - but Friesse won't say how much more he's "invested" in Santorum. But is this good for our democracy? Should one millionaire or billionaire be able to keep a candidate in the race - and what strings are attached to the money if Santorum - or any other superpac-owned candidate wins? Paul Sherman joins me now - he is an attorney with the Institute for Justice.

President Obama really ticked a lot of people off with his recent decision to require religious institutions to offer free contraception in their employer-sponsored health insurance plans. On the left - Democrats are saying it's a politically unwise decision heading into an election year. And on the right - Republicans are saying it's an all out assault against the Constitution - and a war on religion. And Rick Santorum is saying that President is about to resurrect Robespierre and bring back the French Revolution's Guillotines. Start investing in Guillotine companies now - according to Rick Santorum - their stock is about to go through the roof. But another crazy argument from the man-on-dog guy shouldn't distract us. So what's the bigger picture of President Obama's decision? Here to break this down with me is Tommy Christopher - Media Correspondent & White House Reporter at Mediaite.

Bill Press, The Bill Press Show...joins Thom Hartmann. There's a big right-wing party going down in Washington right now - it's called the Conservative Political Action Conference. It's a once a year shindig where Conservative elites cozy up to each other and denounce the evil liberals. I've done my radio show live from CPAC every year for the past five - it's amazing to see the parade, from true-believers to con men to outright shills for big polluting industries. This year being an election year, CPAC has one overriding theme today: Bash President Obama and perpetuate all the lies and misinformation they can about him.

It's Thursday so it's time for my favorite topic - because I'm a total science geek - Geeky Science. As you might be aware - I was out for the past two days because I was battling bronchitis and the flu - and for those two days I was fasting, because I've always found the old adage of "Starve a fever" to be true. And now promising new research on mice shows it may work with more than just a common rhinovirus. Fasting may actually weaken tumors and help the process of chemotherapy be more efficient in fighting the disease. The research - conducted at the University of Southern California - showed that "the combination of fasting cycles plus chemotherapy was either more or much more effective than chemo alone," according to Valter Longo - professor of gerontology and biological sciences.

Guest host Sam Sacks discusses Santorum's big night, Obama's Super PAC, the payroll tax cut debate and Proposition 8. Also discussed: the move to legalize marijuana, The Rock's ambitious political aspirations and Thom's "Daily Take" on Republican election fraud.

Guest host Sam Sacks talks with investigative reporter Lee Fang about Obama's decision to get in on the Super PAC game. Also discussed: Twitter censorship, our nation's infrastructure problems and Thom's "Daily Take" on the rich seceding from the country.

Thom talks with a reporter and participant of the Occupy DC movement, and asks if we can trust the people of the leaderless movement in his "Daily Take." Also discussed: Mortgage fraud, House Democrats preventing FAA workers from unionizing and a doomsday scenario about abrupt climate change.

Can "We the People" be trusted to govern?

The Good! Mayor Michael Bloomberg. His handling of Occupy Wall Street aside - New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg did some good work this weekend. In an interview with Meet the Press on Sunday - the Republican Bloomberg slammed Congress for not passing stricter gun enforcement legislation. The Bad! Fox So-Called News. While the rest of the media touted the new jobs' numbers released on Friday - Fox News unsurprisingly stayed very quiet - mentioning the new numbers less than half as often as the other major news networks. And The Very Very Ugly! US Senate Candidate Pete Hoekstra. Hoekstra's campaign aired an ad in Michigan during yesterday's Super Bowl which featured an Asian-American woman with fractured English mispronouncing the name of Hoekstra's Democratic candidate.

In today's debate on global warming - there are the climate change deniers that want you to think that climate change and global warming are absolute myths. Then there are those who believe that global warming and climate change do exist - but occur at such slow rates that we only need to be concerned about the effects they will have on future generations - not on ourselves. But if you really think that climate change always occurs at an infinitesimally slow rate - then everything you know is wrong...Joining Thom now to discuss the latest research on Earth's climate change history and ongoing climate change is Dr. Jeffrey Masters - Director of Meteorology with Weather Underground.

Pete Tucker, TheFightBack & Robert Stephens II, Occupy DC joins Thom Hartmann. DC Park Police raided and evicted most of Occupy DC's encampment in McPherson Square on Saturday. Just before dawn, dozens of officers in riot gear, on horseback, and in HAZMAT suits moved into the camp, then disassembled and trashed tents that they said were "not in compliance" with park rules. Nearly a dozen occupiers were arrested in Saturday's tense raid - mostly for crossing police barries - although there was a report that one man was arrested for throwing a brick at a police officer. While the police claim that the weekend's events were not an eviction, and did leave some tents behind, it's clear that Occupy DC is now just a shell of the vibrant community it used to be. A similar police raid was conducted on the sister occupation in Freedom Plaza on Sunday - with little confrontation and fewer tents removed. So when does the occupation of the nation's capital stand now after the crackdown?