Signs and Wonders: Third death in SXSW catastrophe

Another death at SXSW. A third person has died after being struck by a suspected drunk driver at the South by Southwest festival in Austin last week. Sandy Thuy Le, 26, had struggled for life since early Thursday morning, when a driver attempting to flee police crashed through a barrier and plowed through the crowd on Red River Street in Austin. At least 21 others were injured in the incident. Two remain hospitalized, one in critical condition and one in serious condition, according to Reuters. Austin authorities charged Rashad Charjuan Owens, 21, from Killeen, Texas, with murder.

Another abortion center down. The New Woman All Women abortion facility in Birmingham is now for sale, “ending a two year struggle by owner Diane Derzis to keep the troubled abortion clinic open,” according to Operation Rescue. Trouble began for Derzis and her Birmingham facility on Jan. 21, 2012, when local pro-life activists photographed two abortion patients being hand-carried out a back door down broken steps to gurneys waiting in a trash-strewn alley. Records from 911 calls obtained by Operation Rescue indicated the two women suffered drug overdoses caused by the facility’s poorly-trained staff. The Alabama Department of Public Health issued a closure order in April 2012, ruling the center had repeatedly shown it was too dangerous to continue operating. The facility re-opened under the guise of a doctor’s office in 2013. Pro-life groups, including Operation Rescue and the Life Legal Defense Foundation, continued to publicize the activities of the abortionists until the facility was closed permanently.

Irish protestants. Yesterday’s St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, ostensibly to honor the Catholic saint, perpetuate the idea that most Irish are Catholics. Not so fast. According to Southern Illinois University’s Tobin Grant, “The data (are) clear: most Irish-Americans are not Catholic, and Irish-Americans make up a minority of Catholics in America. Nearly half of Irish-Americans are Protestant; a third are Catholic.” The rest claim no religion. Tobin added, “many Irish-Americans, particularly in the South, are Evangelicals. In fact, Michael P. Carroll, a dean at Wilfrid Laurier University in Canada, reports that Irish-Americans make up a larger share of evangelicals in the South (20 percent) than their share of Catholicism elsewhere (16 percent).”