Universalis, your very own breviary in pixels...

Thursday 17 September 2009

Of Wowsers and Womyn and Wine

Ya gotta love that Cardinal Pell. (Actually I do. And for that matter, every time he sees him on TV, Himself says, Get a load o' THIS guy! What kinda bishop is THAT? and why don't WE [Americans] have any of 'em?)

Anyway, as I was contemplating, (didn't know I was a contemplative, did ya?) a mid-afternoon glass of Shiraz, (ah, that 'splains it, huh?) this caught my eye.
Cardinal George Pell, in his weekly column in the Australian Daily Telegraph, said alcohol abuse had devastating consequences and that Australia was "long overdue for a correction". He implied that banning alcohol advertising might be a good thing.

According to the cardinal hospital admissions for alcohol-related reasons in Australia had increased by 130 per cent for 18 to 24-year-olds and 200 per cent for women in the last nine years. He said 40,000 people are admitted to hospital annually with injuries and illnesses related to alcohol ...

The cardinal said that while he grew up in a pub, enjoyed a glass of wine and didn't think he "could be called a wowser" - an Australian term for a killjoy - "you can always have too much of a good thing: in the case of alcohol, with devastating consequences".
What struck me was how far, both recently, and really throughout my lifetime, women have come, in achieving equality with men, huh?

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