Wowee Zowee, Malawi.

Ever vigilant, blooger LarryD has posted a story which he discovered on The Daily Mail where the government of Malawi plan to punish persistent offenders 'who foul the air' in a bid to 'mould responsible and disciplined citizens.'
In other words, the Malawai government will make it illegal to.....how shall I say it.......fart in public.

The original article makes reference to the website Africanews.com , so, intrepid reporter I am (and not to be outdone by LarryD) I went to Africanews.com to get to the source of the story. Unfortunately, I could not find the story of the Malawian anti-fart law on the website, but I was able to find other stories pertaining to the African nation that are just as - if not more - bizarre.

In one story [Malawi: Villagers stop officials from hunting hyenas] villagers in a district in central Malawi have asked police and game rangers to stop hunting wild, marauding hyenas that have seriously injured at least two villagers. According to villagers, these hyenas are "man-made" - that is, the product of witchcraft and "meant to harass or eliminate some people [and] as such there is nothing the police can do." Police Spokesperson, Kondwani Kandiado, confirmed that there had been no sign of the hyenas since the police arrived, ergo, the creatures were the product of witchcraft.

In a second story [Malawi: Witchcraft fracas lands 16 in court] we read that "sixteen parents will answer charges of malicious damage after razing down houses belonging to three alleged witchcraft teachers". An unreported number of children told their parents that the three had taught them all witchcraft and "flying lessons to steer the aircraft". I'm not sure what that means.

According to the story, witchcraft is not recognized as a punishable offense in Malawi, though The Witchcraft Act makes it a crime to accuse someone of practicing witchcraft.

The third story from the website is, I'm sure, the strangest of all. The title says it all ......Malawi: Man cuts off testicles for sale.

22-year-old Pilirani Lazarous was in need of money to buy fertilizer for his farm and having heard rumors that there was a market for testicles in Malawi's capital city, Lilongwe, Lazarous attempted to - as the story says - make ends meet. Lazarous said, "The first people I tried to market them reported me to police”. Police took him to the hospital where he will undergo psychiatric evaluation.

Book Bargains.

Ever on the look out for bargains during what I call the Obama recession, I came across a wonderful deal on a book that's been on my Amazon.com wishlist for quite awhile.

As luck would have it, I found a hardcover copy of Archbishop Charles Chaput's Render unto Caesar for $1.99 plus $3.99 shipping. I jumped at it and the book arrived yesterday.

Funny, the postage was shown on the package as $2.38. Still, the total was $6.09 with tax, so I'm not complaining.

I managed an even better deal on John Paul the Great: Remembering a Spiritual Father (Hardcover) by Peggy Noonan . Ordered that one for $0.92 plus postage.

I won't be working next week, so at least I'll have a couple of worthwhile books to read while I'm off.

Two New Books.

Our Parish is giving away copies of Confessions of a Mega Church Pastor by Allen Hunt and Rediscover Catholicism by Matthew Kelly.

Managed to finish Hunt's book rather quickly. Not having heard of Hunt before now, I found his conversion story very interesting. The book lead me to Hunt's radio show WSB in Atlanta. As much as I enjoyed his book, I find him a better radio talk show host than writer.

I'll get into Kelly's book next.

We were asked at Mass to give our copies to fallen away Catholics after we read them. Not sure who I could give them to......I know one or two folks who need to read the books, but that doesn't mean they would.

Oh yeah; in his book, Hunt recommends The Incorruptibles by Joan Carrol Cruz - which I've read and recommend as well - and John Paul The Great by Peggy Noonan - which I've just ordered in Hardcover for $0.92 - and Jesus Shock which I've put on my wish list.

Warm and Cozy Day.

After being off for five snow days, one weekend and Martin Luther King's Birthday, my son, J.P. returned to school Tuesday. When he came home that day, he brought with him, a note from his teacher informing us that Friday (today) would be Warm and Cozy Day.

I had never heard of Warm and Cozy Day - this was all new to me. According to the note, the Pre-K kids in my son's school would be allowed to wear their pajamas to school today. We didn't have Warm and Cozy Day back when I was in school.......that was pre - Vatican II and the nuns in our school, obviously, didn't believe in anything warm or cozy. I remember we were given a tour of the convent and I can assure you that their home was anything but.

Of course, J.P. would have to participate; it might scar him irreparably should he be the only child in Pre-K not in pajamas. However, my wife decided that none of his p.j.s would do. None of the ones he has would be fit for public viewing. He would need new pajamas.

Being Filipina, it is completely alien to my wife's genetic make-up to plan ahead. Any man married to a Filipina soon learns that putting things off and being late is entrenched into their DNA. Even though she had decided earlier in the week to purchase new p.j.s for J.P., she couldn't conceive of purchasing them until Thursday afternoon when she picked him up at school.

Her first store of choice was Ross where, naturally, she would not be able to find any pajamas for children. Next, she and my son went to K-mart. They were not, unfortunately, able to come to an agreement on what might be proper attire for Warm and Cozy Day so they returned home sans pajamas.

I was at work when I learned of the pajama problem. The obvious solution would have been to go to Walmart, but they were already at home, it was cold outside and my wife didn't want to go out again. It would be up to me to stop by Walmart when I finished work at 11:00 PM. I could be in and out quickly, provided I knew the right size - it shouldn't be too difficult finding a style that my son would like. My wife said size six so six it would be.

I knew that my son's first choice would be pajamas featuring Thomas the tank engine so, of course, there would be none at Walmart. I narrowed the selection to two.....Sponge Bob or Spiderman. I'd play it safe and get both. Good thing. It wasn't until this morning when he awoke that I found out that my son didn't like Spong Bob - or anything else on Nickeloden - any longer. It would be Spiderman for Warm and Cozy Day.

Cathy has taken him to school and she's headed to work. Since I don't go into work until this afternoon, I can have my own Warm and Cozy Morning. It's too bad the Sponge Bob p.j.s don't fit.

Thought for the Day.

Herman Cain explores possibility of running for President.