This is a weird story that truly baffles anyone who thinks the GOP would never look a gift horse in the mouth. Then again, it involves a prominent GOP Mormon and one of the top 5 most awful GOP Governors of all time, Maine Governor Paul Lepage.

The Quimby family, the makers of Burt's Bees products, have offered to donate nearly 90,000 acres of pristine woodland area in Maine. Not only that, they have also included a generous donation of $40 million for the upkeep of the land. How in the name of Joseph S'myth could people reject that offer? Here's the scoop, thanks to RMUSE for the heads up.

Utah Mormon, Rob Bishop is chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources and was joined by vicious Maine Governor Paul LePage to reject transfer of the 87,500 acre land gift and obstruct its designation as a national monument. Republicans under Koch supervision insist that all public land be handed over to corporate privatization to be mined, logged or drilled for profits, not for the American people’s benefit. If the Quimby family wants to hand over the land to the Koch brothers to mine, log and drill for oil, Mormon Bishop, LePage, and House Republicans would probably name a post office after them. Instead, Maine Governor LePage lashed out at the gift-giving Quimby family like the ingrate Republican he has proven over and over to be.

Imagine that a wealthy individual walked up and offered to give an American a brand spanking new Mercedes without condition and a wad of cash for upkeep and maintenance. Most Americans would be thrilled. Now imagine a punk-ass Republican trying to prohibit the wealthy individual from transferring ownership of that Mercedes, and the wad of cash, all because that Republican didn’t like the idea of any American owning a Mercedes. That scenario absolutely defies description. One cannot even call the story’s Republican an ingrate because they were attempting to reject a gift intended for someone else.

The Mormon Republicans’ way of shoving a grenade down the gift horse’s gullet is blocking the transfer of the nearly 90-thousand acre gift as a national monument, block its designation as a national monument, and stop all the job-creating tourism and commerce that goes along with it. This is all despite overwhelming public support to accept the gift and designate the land as a national monument and park.

Bishop complains that a local Republican, some Maine malcontent, is right that if the land is a designated as national monument, then mining, logging and oil drilling corporations cannot ruin it and environmental laws will protect it from being despoiled and denuded. The land is protected now because it is privately held by the Quimby family non-profit, so there will be no change after the transfer and that is what Republicans cannot comport; they want change that entails corporate control and abolition of environmental protections.

(Only thing that pops into my head is: You BASTARDS!)

Rep. Bishop’s hatred that the American people enjoy public lands is, or should be, legendary. Bishop is closely aligned with those other Mormons, the Cliven Bundy Republicans, sitting in jail who contend the public by way of the government is forbidden from owning or using public land. Not only does the Utah Mormon go apoplectic over America owning “public” land, he’s made it his raison d’être to eliminate all of America’s public lands including the entirety of the National Parks system, national monuments, national forests, and wildlife refuges and any other publicly-held land turned over to private enterprise to rape and pillage at their pleasure. This is all in spite of overwhelmingly broad bipartisan public support for National, state and regional parks as well as protected wilderness areas and wildlife sanctuaries.

Mormonism is a strange religion, it’s likely that stealing, no matter when, what, or where is strictly forbidden. However, lying is forbidden and yet if it is done for the lord it is perfectly acceptable and holy, meaning robbery for the Kochs may be a religiously acceptable act. Now, if they would just offer to give it freely to the Koch brothers or the Mormon Church, then Bishop has no issue with what private property owners do, so long as they do what he, his Church and the Koch brothers want.

What's hardest to believe about the whole concept of 'Lying for the Lord,' is the incredible fact that it comes from the LDS hierarchy. Click on the link. Amazing.