“I am sorry. I can’t do your wedding because of my relationship with Jesus Christ.” —Richmond, Washington, florist Barronelle Stutzman, declining to do business with gay ten-year customers and bringing the wrath of the state attorney general upon her. [Seattle P-I]

Meet Al Gerhart. Al’s 54, an Oklahoma carpenter. Al’s also a cofounder of the Sooner Tea Party, which inclines him to send emails like this:

“Branan, Get that bill heard or I will make sure you regret not doing it. I will make you the laughing stock of the Senate if I don’t hear that this bill will be heard and passed. We will dig into your past, your family, your associates and once we start on you there will be no end to it. This is a promise.”

“Branan” is Cliff Branan, an Oklahoma state senator. Who — golly! — is a Republican. Cliff chairs the Energy and Environment Committee, which inclines him to receive emails discussing the issues of the day from civic-minded people like Al.

Cliff was so interested in Al’s email, he forwarded it to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, which forwarded it to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, which forwarded it to the Oklahoma County District Attorney, because everybody in Oklahoma is interested in Al’s concerns.

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“I would point out that if you’re a believer in in the Bible, one would have to say the Great Flood is an example of climate change, and that certainly wasn’t because mankind had overdeveloped hydrocarbon energy.” —Texas Congresscritter Joe Barton, defending the Keystone pipeline. [BuzzFeed, via Political Wire]

[NBC]

I’m at Museum of Sex (New York, NY) 4sq.com/ZkGIle

— Ian Kahn (@LuxMentis) April 9, 2013

[WJHL, via Political Wire]

[Guardian]