First: check out this video. Then:

A man in Oregon nearly died after a pet rattlesnake that he put in his mouth while drinking with some friends bit him inside his throat. Matt Wilkinson said when he put his eastern diamondback rattlesnake down his throat, he immediately noticed a shot-like sensation.

Huh. D’ya think?

This guy needs to have his Human Card revoked. Almost did.

President George W. Bush and the U.S. Congress registered record-low approval ratings in a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday, and a new monthly index measuring the mood of Americans dipped slightly on deepening worries about the economy.

Only 29 percent of Americans gave Bush a positive grade for his job performance, below his worst Zogby poll mark of 30 percent in March. A paltry 11 percent rated Congress positively, beating the previous low of 14 percent in July.

But why? Most everyone can tell you, on both sides of the aisle, why they believe the approval ratings for President Bush are down. But why is it, pray tell, that ratings for the U.S. Congress are at their lowest since the Mesozoic Era?

Very simple: those disenchanted with the GOP believe the GOP has cast aside its very Conservative foundation. I would tend to agree. Which is why I write no more checks to the RNC.

Those who vote Demorat think the Dems aren’t nearly sufficiently Left, and believe the Dems have sold out because America is still in Iraq.

The problem with President Bush and the GOP is that they are disorganized, tired, old, have no central focus and are content to be blown around by the prevailing political P.C. prairie winds. Sure, we hear some Republicans giving occasional lip service to many of the core Conservative ideas I hold dear: a smaller federal government, decisions pushed down more to the local level, budget cuts, controlled borders, tax cuts, a resolute, decisive, well -funded, well-led military determined to protect this nation and her interests, et al. But in my opinion we’ve seen way too much moderation on the part of the GOP for the bulk of the last eight years.

And we seem to have completely forgotten history. So sad.

I would provide two Barry Goldwater quotes for your perusal at this point:

I could have ended the war in a month. I could have made North Vietnam look like a mud puddle.

I believe him. And:

I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.

As far as I am concerned, the defense of liberty includes the survival of my nation, securing it against threats from within and without! From within in terms of illegal immigration and the porosity of our borders, as well as the growing Islamification of my country (Dearbornistan in Michiganistan, to start). And from without in terms of all those countries who exist simply to see the mighty fall. That issue is a post in and of itself.

So, Congress experiencing the lowest ratings ever? To me, no surprise. Sadly, with some exceptions, more and more, both sides of the aisle are becoming one and the same.

It’s happening now in the UK. Not long until it occurs in the US:

A muslim dentist made a woman wear Islamic dress as the price of accepting her as an NHS patient, it is alleged.

Omer Butt is said to have told the patient that unless she wore a headscarf she would have to find another practice.

Later this month, Mr Butt will appear before a General Dental Council professional misconduct hearing, which has the power to strike him off.

It is claimed that the 31-year-old dentist asked to speak to the woman in private after she turned up for an appointment at his clinic in Bury.

According to the charges, he questioned her on whether she was a Muslim and told her that if he was to treat her she would have to wear Islamic dress.

He is also said to have read out a number of religious rules to her.

He then told his nurse to give the patient her own headscarf to wear, the accusation says.

One thing you should not miss from the article: “Mr Butt is the older brother of former Islamic extremist Hassan Butt, who once declared he had ‘no problem’ with terror attacks on Britain and who said that September 11 “served the pleasure of Allah”.

In the meantime, Iran and Syria are clearly working with each other, as indicated in the Tuesday, 09-18 Jerusalem Post:

Proof of cooperation between Iran and Syria in the proliferation and development of weapons of mass destruction was brought to light Monday in a Jane’s Defence Weekly report that dozens of Iranian engineers and 15 Syrian officers were killed in a July 23 accident in Syria.

According to the report, cited by Channel 10, the joint Syrian-Iranian team was attempting to mount a chemical warhead on a Scud missile when the explosion occurred, spreading lethal chemical agents, including sarin nerve gas.

My hope is that you read that properly: Iran and Syria are working to install chemical WMD weapons on a Russian Scud missile. And what might, do you suppose, those countries do with such a device? Buff it to a resolute shine? Install it in a nearby park? Launch it towards Israel or American troops in Iraq?

Finally, Hugh Hewitt is publicly wondering what actually occurred during the Israeli “Operation Orchard” strike into Syria on September 6th (see my post on this yesterday). It is clear that Israel managed to completely overcome Syrian air defense. And the Middle East is agog with the feat. Something very important occurred; the Israelis are close-mouthed and leaking not a drop. Did the Israelis fly F-16s through Turkey? Did they hit a cache of Iranian weapons destined for Hezbollah as written yesterday? Some say no. So why is Israel so quiet? Is there a connection with North Korea and nuclear programs? Was a NK ship involved? Carrying prohibited cargo? The Golan Heights are certainly on high alert on the border between Israel and Syria. If the Israelis bragged about the strike, would that have forced the hand of Assad? Bret Stephens in OpinionJournal.com seems to believe so.

It should be eminently clear, to all my rational non-tinfoiled readers, that the United States cannot afford to deal with Iran, Syria, North Korea and even Russia in a vacuum; they are all packing heat collectively. And working in concert.

Islam is working day and night to infiltrate the Western world as evidenced by the first article above. Islam is working day and night to bring down the Western world from without. From within and without, dear readers. Both at once. And using all available tools.

We should use all the tools at our disposal as well. We don’t need to suspend our civil liberties wholesale. But we do need to take logical, timely and available steps to protect our society. Again, as Spock said: “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one.”