Last month, with the Terri Schiavo case at its most hyped, two physicians, who also happen to be Republican legislators, offered free medical advice in an extraordinary melding of their legal and political vocations.

With nothing but a short videotape to aid them, Senator Bill Frist (R-TN), a heart and lung surgeon, and Representative Dave Weldon (R-FL), an internist, felt able to rebut the diagnoses of numerous neurological specialists who had examined Schiavo. The reps contended from their film viewing that she “[seemed] to respond to visual stimuli,” cleverly suggesting, without actually asserting so, that the doctors on the case were wrong. Saying he “spoke more as a doctor than a senator,” Frist went further, adding that “there seems to be insufficient information to conclude” that Schiavo was in a “persistent vegetative state” that would justify allowing her to die.

But maybe Frist and Weldon are on to something and this diagnoses-by-videotape is the wave of the future. And since these doctor-legislators seem so willing to help out needy citizens, why not consider clicking here to ask if they’d be willing to diagnose your ailment as well. With fifty million Americans currently uninsured, many folks could really use their pro bono expertise.

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No to Bolton

John Bolton’s nomination to be ambassador to the United Nations took a hit on Tuesday when the Senate Foreign Relations Committee unexpectedly decided to spend three more weeks investigating allegations against the nominee. Please take this short reprieve to click here and ask your rep to vote no to Bolton. (For info on why Bolton is a terrible choice, read recent pieces by The Nation‘s UN correspondent Ian Willams and the magazine’s Washington editor David Corn.)