One Chinese military doctor told a reporter that he witnessed a freight train transfer more than 7,000 prisoners to one of 36 Chinese camps holding as many as 2 million prisoners. Another medical technician said her "treatment center" harvested hearts, kidneys, corneas and skins from the living.
SIN CITIES?
If anybody is intrigued by the History Channel's newest documentary on whether Sodom and Gomorrah actually existed, it's the kingdom of Jordan, the modern-day home to myriad biblical events.
The other night, Jordan's ambassador to the U.S., Karim Kawar, held an embassy preview of the documentary, titled "Digging for the Truth: The Real Sin City, Sodom & Gomorrah?"
Bryant Wood, of Associates for Biblical Research, is convinced that the ruins of the cities have already been discovered southeast of the Dead Sea inside Jordan, their modern names being Bab edh-Dhra (thought to be Sodom) and Numeira (Gomorrah).
"The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah became an example in the Bible of how God judges sin," writes Wood, who offers one leading theory that the cities were destroyed by burning sulfur raining down from a massive earthquake.
COUGH IT UP
The living-wage debate has taken center stage at the University of Virginia, founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819.
Students and professors on the historic campus have created a Living Wage Campaign, which received 80 percent approval in a student referendum. It argues that every university employee and those workers the school contracts out with should be paid an hourly minimum of $10.72.
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Chairman Julian Bond, a University of Virginia professor, spoke in support of the campaign at a campus rally last week, while appearing in the background was Karin L. Agness, a conservative activist on campus.
"I was frustrated that no one stood up to it, so I launched the Market Wage Campaign," she tells The Beltway Beat.
Adjacent to the Bond rally, she gave students "the opportunity to vote for their favorite economist, Karl Marx or Adam Smith. Also, students could play pin the equilibrium point on the supply-and-demand curve graph," she explains.
"Living Wage supporters could also sign up to pay the difference of what a living wage would give to an employee - like (liberal activist) Michael Moore did in his film with senators' children. We passed out info about the negative consequences of the living wage."
"It was tremendously successful," she adds. "One student held up a sign in the front row during Professor Bond's speech that read: 'Professor Bond: How much of your salary are you willing to pay?'"