Island Med Student

Physicians for Human Rights stands in solidarity with the people of Haiti today and every day. We offer our deep concern for the struggling survivors of the devastating earthquake in Haiti and our profound sympathy for the families of the as yet uncounted victims.

You can make a difference for Haiti – take action today:

— If you are a health professional, your special skills are urgently needed to save lives. Consider joining the relief effort in Haiti today. Partners In Health has put out a call for surgeons, nurses, and other health professionals: “send an email to with information on your credentials, language capabilities (Haitian Creole or French desired), availability and contact information.”

— Take 2 minutes to take action to support the US Haitian community. Urge President Obama to have the Department of Homeland Security provide Temporary Protected Status (TPS) NOW to Haitians currently in the United States.

TPS is granted by the US government to eligible nationals of countries who cannot safely return to their homelands because of armed conflict, environmental disaster or other extraordinary and temporary conditions.

Haiti clearly fits this description.The earthquake has devastated Haiti, leaving little for immigrants to go back to: no shelter, no food, no water, no medical services and no infrastructure.

PHR welcomes the decision of the Obama Administration to halt the pending deportation of some 30,000 Haitians. We believe that, given Haiti’s lack of capacity to safely accept any returnees at this time, the Administration should take the next step and grant TPS on an expedited basis to all Haitians who are in the US at this time and are in need of temporary protection.

Granting TPS will allow Haiti to focus on recovery and disaster relief without the additional difficulty of dealing with potentially homeless returnees.

Ask President Obama to act TODAY. We must unite as a nation in solidarity with the people of Haiti – both those struggling to survive in the earthquake ravaged Caribbean and those here in the United States.

On March 21st, the Fresh Air Fund-Racers will take to the streets at the NYC Half-Marathon! Thank you to the Fresh Air Fund-Racers and their supporters for participating in this world class event. You are making a huge difference in the lives of thousands of Fresh Air children!

We have limited availability for this amazing race. If you would like to run, please register here right away.

I’m tired. Really tired. Can’t create coherent sentences. But I just wanted to say that I am very sad because I just found out that Patrick Swayze died. I worked at OB clinic all day today. My last patient was actually in labor! She came to her scheduled appointment but after a few questions (in my broken Spanglish) I realized that her water had broken last night (mucho agua) and that she was having contractions (las contracciones) every 20 minutes. I promptly escorted her from the clinic to the labor and delivery floor of the hospital. I’m sleepy, so that’s all you get. G’nite!

My apologies to Sara for taking so long to post this. Please check out the information below to sign up for this incredible event! (I wish I had made the time to join!):

Would you like to run this year’s New York City Half-Marathon on August 16th while also helping Fresh Air Fund children? Join our Fresh Air Fund-Racers team today! If you would like to register, please visit http://freshair.kintera.org or just click here! If you have additional questions or are interested in becoming a sponsor, please contact Kate at runners@freshair.org or call (800) 367-0003 ext. 8890.

Last summer’s NYC Half-Marathon Presented by NIKE was a huge success for The Fresh Air Fund, and we couldn’t have done it without all of our Fund-Racers! Thank you to the dedicated runners who participated through our team and to everyone who came out to support us! We raised more than $125,000 which will go directly to our free programs for NYC children.

So funny, yet so sad, because so true.

“Hey grandma, how about another grape soda?”

This is just too hilarious not to watch.

This is absolutely hilarious. My favorite part is the man climbing the tree to feed the birds. Classy.

New York Governor Spitzer, why would you ever think of getting a prostitute in the District of Columbia? This being my former home, I’m all too aware of the number of high-profile cases of politicians hiring prostitutes in the District. Did you not learn your lesson from the DC Madam, Deborah Jeane Palfrey? Was DC’s former mayor, Marion Barry’s prosecution for smoking crack with a prostitute not memorable enough for you?

Here’s a tip for all politicians out there. If you have to hire a prostitute, avoid the nation’s capital!

Oh yeah, and if you’re a politician in a bathroom stall, you might want to avoid tapping your foot no matter where you are.

Note: To be clear, I am not against prostitution in the least. I actually think it should be legalized for many reasons. And I have no problem with politicians hiring prostitutes. But they should let their families know. And of course, they have to deal with the media and public opinion more than us regular folks…

Please do check out this article on Wired’s blog about Mike Huckabee’s endorsement of GodTube, a Christian version of YouTube. I really didn’t think much of it until I watched one of the videos (below), which pretty much made me want to vomit. Here’s a recommendation though, don’t watch this video first thing in the morning like I did. It might just ruin your day.

PS: I could write a lengthy rant about why this video disturbs me, but I have too much studying to do today. In summary, I’ll say this: I am certainly not “against” any religion. In fact, I think religion serves an important purpose in many peoples’ lives. I am, however, against scare tactics in general. And especially scare tactics used to get people to believe in a certain religion, or anything else, for that matter. Using fear to make people believe in your cause is a form of propaganda. Naziism anyone?

“Propaganda is the deliberate, systematic attempt to shape perceptions, manipulate cognitions, and direct behavior to achieve a response that furthers the desired intent of the propagandist.”

““ Garth S. Jowett and Victoria O’Donnell, Propaganda And Persuasion

“By the skillful and sustained use of propaganda, one can make a people see even heaven as hell or an extremely wretched life as paradise.”

- Adolf Hitler

I have admittedly not been keeping up with the news until recently. I barely knew who was even running in the upcoming presidential election. So, I’ve been trying to catch up in the past few days.

There’s one thing I know for sure: I hate Huckabee. I have to admit up front that I’ve barely skimmed the surface of his position on issues. It only took listening to these two answers about evolution and medical marijuana, however, for me to have a pretty good hunch that I don’t like this guy. Also, am I the only one who thinks he looks like Richard Nixon?

Here’s his first response on evolution:

Okay, I’ll admit that he did a great job answering the question. However, he represents what pisses me off about many people who don’t believe in evolution–he obviously does not even understand what it is. He said that we’re not “descended from primates.” Well, that’s absolutely correct. But no one is claiming that we descended from primates. We are, in fact, primates. Also, some anti-evolutionists will say “humans didn’t descend from monkeys.” Well, that’s correct as well. We did, however, share a common ancestor. I could rant on this for a while, but I shall not.

My second favorite Huckabee response of the day is this answer he gave to a woman who wanted to know if he was for legalizing marijuana.

There are a million reasons why this video upsets me, but I’ll stick to the main one. Bascially, Huckabee suggested that narcotics could be a viable alternative to marijuana for relieving chronic pain. I could write a book on why this is a terrible argument, and he never actually said “legal” narcotics, but let’s assume that’s what he meant. Okay, so he’s saying that morphine, for example, is an alternative to marijuana. Well, that’s great because morphine is legal, and marijuana is not. That works out so well! And everyone knows that legal drugs like alcohol and cigarettes are way better for you and less addictive than the scary illegal ones like marijuana. And everyone knows that morphine is way less addictive than marijuana. And that people rob banks all the time to get more marijuana. And that…..okay, I’ll stop now.

On another note, I’m sick as hell. I don’t know if it was the travelling, or change of climate, or stress of the season, but I have a pretty bad cold. I have gotten up only to go to the bathroom for the past 3 days. I hope I start feeling better soon. Googling Huckabee is certainly not making me want to stay for very long in this country.