And in tonight's Daily Take...economic austerity and anorexia have more in common than you may think. I'll let you know how they're similar and how to cure a "recession."

The Good! Masdar City, Abu Dhabi. Despite being home to 8 percent of the world's proven crude oil reserves, Abu Dhabi is making strides in moving away from oil and towards green energy. The Bad! Tennessee State Representative Joe Ragan and the Tennessee State Legislature. Ragan, a state representative from Tennessee, recently compared homosexuality to "pedophilia, prostitution and murder", and also said that homosexuality could be controlled by "mentally healthy adult human beings" - or by clinics run by Michele Bachmann's husband. And The Very Very Ugly! Oklahoma State Senator Ralph Shortey. File this under absolutely insane legislation. Shortey recently conducted extensive research into his state's use of human fetuses in its food.

Conservative David Selig vs. Thom Hartmann. Right now - the capitalist gains tax is at the lowest it's been since the Great Depression. And as the President pointed out - this low tax rate on capital gains is sucking money out of our nation's ability to pay for everything from schools to the military to our nation's infrastructure. So, should we have more capitalist gains tax cuts financed with debt - or should rich people pay their fair share, so we can educate a new generation of scientists, engineers, and doctors?

Not only did we hear the President's take on the State of the Union - but we also heard the Republican's take on it when Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels gave the official Republican response. We also heard from Mr. 9-9-9 himself - Herman Cain - who had the official Tea Party response. And yes, Cain did look at the right camera. However, less unexpected was the response from the Occupy movement from Washington, DC. In their response - the movement said ..."Financially, the state of the 99% is not strong. That is an understatement. Never in our lifetimes have so many hard-working Americans faced so many difficulties, so many uncertainties, so many indignities" It has been a very tumultuous year for the Occupy movement, and even more so for the reporters and journalists who have covered the movement and it's principles. Throughout 2011 - reporters covering the movement were beaten - arrested and ultimately prevented from reporting on police action against Occupy protestors. We all remember Mayor Michale Bloomberg's midnight raid on Zuccotti Park in which more than 200 peaceful protestors - including dozens of journalists - were arrested by police in riot gear. And as a result - our nation's press freedom have suffered a setback. We like to think of ourselves as the most free nation in the world when it comes to the press. But - in reality - we're not even close. Joining us to discuss more about the treatment of journalists in the United States today is Delphine Halgand - the ...

Heather Cirmo, Conservative Strategist & Kris Ullman, Conservative Commentator join Thom to talk about the STU, Romney & Gingrich.

The applause breaks during the State of the Union tell us a lot about what people think of what the President is saying. But were there any surprises last night when it came to who did and didn't applaud?

The Indiana State Senate passed what they call "right to work" legislation Monday. But really, it's "right to work for less" legislation.

The Good! Chicago resident Ryan Garcia. Garcia - a 30 year-old sales representative from Chicago has made a very unusual New Year's resolution: do a random act of kindness each day this year. The Bad! Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear. Last week - Gov. Beshear proposed his 2012-2013 budget - prefacing it by saying "we should be making substantial investments in our physical and intellectual infrastructure to bring transformational change to our state." The Ugly! The Cat-Killer in Russellville, Arkansas. Jacob Burris - the campaign manager for a congressional candidate in northwest Arkansas told the police Monday that he found his family's cat brutally slaughtered over the weekend - with the word "liberal" painted on the corpse.

"Your Take - My Take" is YOUR chance to send in your questions, comments, rants and observations about anything we talk about here on The Big Picture or during my radio show. Here's what Thom answers tonight. --"Thom, if there is a brokered convention (big if...), do you think that that it would spell the end of the GOP? At least in the GOP that we know in its current incarnation? If they pick someone that did not go out and campaign, that would simply infuriate the base. Imagine if they put Chris Christie up there as the compromise after the furious debates and campaigning that has taken place already." --"@Thom_Hartmann I know you love this TSA stuff, but the agency says that Rand Paul was at no time "detained." --"Thom you're only fooling the (expletive) ignorant because you're such a (expletive) con. You know we are not a (expletive) democracy - you (expletive) (expletive). Get off it! You know we are a (expletive) constitutional republic. And also, the (expletive) people will decide what the guns are for you (expletive) (expletive), not the government. If we're going to overthrow the (expletive) government and kill all those (expletive) (expletives) up in Washington - the (expletive) people will decide. You (expletive) poet."

Ginger McCall, Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) joins Thom Hartmann. Police MAY need a warrant from now on if they want to plant GPS systems on your car to track you. So says the Supreme Court in what many are calling a huge victory for privacy rights. In the case of United States v. Jones - the high court found that the police violated the Fourth Amendment rights of suspected drug kingpin Antoine Jones when they installed a GPS tracking device on his car and monitored his activities for 28 days without a warrant. Still, there are questions left unanswered as to what really are unreasonable searches in an age where people are using 332 million cell phones that can be tracked, and surfing the Internet visiting websites that can be tracked too. The court didn't really touch that question. So even though the nation took one step back from Orwell's 1984 with yesterday's Supreme Court ruling - there's still a lot of questions around what constitutes privacy in today's digital world

Amanda Beadle, Think Progress joins Thom Hartmann. Mitt Romney released his tax returns - but don't think this makes him more relatable to the average Joe. What do his returns really tell us about his wealth?

If the majority of Americans were given their chance to speak out about the state of the union this is likely what they would say.