Mr. Spencer,
Thank you for posting the link to The Gathering Storm Radio Show.

As ever, you gave an outstanding interview.

Posted by: Always On Watch at March 28, 2008 7:31 PM

Blog Talk Radio - what a great invention. Spencer has the opportunity to fully address topic at his leisure. Powerful. Great show!!

Mr. Spencer, you mentioned that for a brief period directly after 9/11 there was honest discussion of the nature of Islam and its violent influence - and your one and only interview on PBS (opposite John Esposito and Hussein Ibish).

Could this be the transcript?
PBS Religion and Ethics Newsletter, Episode 616 December 20, 2002

No surprise, your message has been consistant throughout all these years.
*****
WC, AOW, Spencer, Pastorius, Nanc, nice to hear voices of cyber comrades.
*****
IMHO, The political nature of islamic achievments is not necessarily overlooked - it's just difficult to find evidence of such achievments when the only artifacts of said achievments are physically absent uniformly throughout present day umma.
****
LOL! "You can build a church in Saudi Arabia, so long as it is a mosque." LOL! Luv your humor!
****
AOW asked an important question that is asked frequently by frustrated anti-jihadists . ..

Question at marker 51:50:

"What can we, as individuals do to awaken others or is it beyond our control?"

Spencer's reply:

"No, it's not beyond our control at all. It is very important. The answer though, differs with every individual - with what that individual can do, the situation of that individual, what your passion is, what your knowledge is, what your circumstances are. The main thing I see, that I think, that needs to be done is to raise awareness of the nature of the problem that we face. If that is done, the more that is done, then the more we'll be able to implement policies that will be helpful to defend ourselves against the jihad threat. But right now, because there really isn't any awareness of the nature of the jihad threat we can't adequately defend ourselves against it, or fully against it. And so I think the first thing we need to do is raise awareness. You all are doing that very well. You're doing it by having this show and your other shows and your blogs and everything else. Those who hear this can do any number of things depending on where they are and what they are able to do to raise awareness. But I think that is the main thing that has to be done. And so, it can take all kinds of forms:

* Put on a talk,

* Invite a speaker,

* Show a film like FITNA or OBSESSION, THE MOVIE or Islam: What The West Needs To Know.

* Invite your friends over to watch it.

* Write a letter to your editor.

* Write to
your congressman [or Senator &/or [ State Legislator].

* Begin a study group.

* Begin an action group.

* Find out who is funding your local mosque - which should be public information . Find out who is going to speak there and send the information to local reporters

. . . any number of things that can and should be done.

*****

Posted by: heroyalwhyness at March 28, 2008 11:25 PM

OT... sort of...

http://www2.irna.com/en/news/view/menu-236/0803276353175119.htm

Head of the Islamic Republic of Iran's Broadcasting (IRIB) Ezatollah Zarghami said here Thursday Iran's big nuclear festival will be held on April 8, for which the IRIB has arranged extensive programs.

I am so glad that they're only developing "Nuclear Power" for peaceful purposes! Whew! Yes.. A gathering Storm"...

Posted by: praxis9 at March 29, 2008 12:56 AM

Robert & Always On Watch

This is one of the best interviews of Robert that I've ever heard - comprehensive on a whole range of topics from Wikipedia to the Sufis, Bahai and Ahmadiya, with adequate time assigned.

A O W

Is it possible to have a wider scale so that one can go exactly to the point that one wishes to - cramming up 90 minutes in a space of 1 inch makes it difficult to do so.

I do look forward to more interviews of Robert in future.

Posted by: Infidel Pride at March 29, 2008 1:45 AM

Heroyalwhyness,
I've become very frustrated in preaching to the choir. Many of us are informed, but we need to make others well informed and aware. Mr. Spencer, as I expected, had excellent ideas--something there for everyone who wants to be more active.

Posted by: Always On Watch at March 29, 2008 7:12 AM

Infidel Pride,
Thank you so much for the compliment!

WC and I work very hard to prepare for these interviews. We also deliberately try to cover material which other interviewers may overlook. My having all of Mr. Spencer's books allows me to mine for information on which he can expand on the air.

Is it possible to have a wider scale so that one can go exactly to the point that one wishes to - cramming up 90 minutes in a space of 1 inch makes it difficult to do so.

Blog Talk Radio is free, so there are limitations as to how to access a specific point. However, BTR is improving the technology on a regular basis.

Posted by: Always On Watch at March 29, 2008 7:13 AM

Infidel Pride,
Thank you so much for the compliment!

WC and I work very hard to prepare for these interviews. We also deliberately try to cover material which other interviewers may overlook. My having all of Mr. Spencer's books allows me to mine for information on which he can expand on the air.

Is it possible to have a wider scale so that one can go exactly to the point that one wishes to - cramming up 90 minutes in a space of 1 inch makes it difficult to do so.

Blog Talk Radio is free, so there are limitations as to how to access a specific point. However, BTR is improving the technology on a regular basis.

Posted by: Always On Watch at March 29, 2008 7:16 AM

WC and I appreciate Mr. Spencer's staying with us so long on the air. Originally, the interview was scheduled for 60 minutes, but Mr. Spencer--graciously and with a terrible head cold, to boot--put in the extra time. Therefore, we were able to cover everything we wanted to for this interview. Most importantly, enough time was allotted for Mr. Spencer to give full responses. The mainstream media never give him enough time, IMO.

We look forward to interviewing Mr. Spencer against when his new book comes out this fall.

Posted by: Always On Watch at March 29, 2008 7:20 AM

Sorry for the shouting, but THIS IS A GREAT INTERVIEW. IT SHOULD BE REQUIRED LISTENING FOR EVERYONE!

ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS! I AM BLOWN AWAY!

Whew, I feel a bit better now. Thank you everyone involved in this but most of all THANK YOU ROBERT SPENCER!

Wow.

Posted by: Goob at March 29, 2008 1:03 PM

Mr. Spencer: I thoroughly enjoyed the interview. Very informative. Thank you.

Posted by: former liberal WF at March 29, 2008 5:28 PM

Yes superb interview. I throroughly recommend listening to it.

Posted by: Armoured Passionfruit at March 29, 2008 10:20 PM

Can I add my appreciation for this interview. I am stunned at your scholarship! You touched on things that I have been wondering about for some time; namely, the debts the 'Golden Age of Islam' had to the non-Muslim peoples whom it conquered. Islam took over a very sophisticated civilisation. Surely there must have been more continuity than change? For why change? A change of rulers is just a change of government, and given there was so little government under the Arabs, it would seem that the old Byzantine sytems simply continued, until no-one was left who understood them. 'Turkish' baths are actually Roman baths, only this is blotted out, for some reason, and we all go along with it. In the first three centuries of Islam, Muslims were actually a minority in the 'Islamic' empire. It was at the point when, possibly due to the jizya, possibly due to Sufism, (which may be a syncretic form of crypto-Christianity), most had become Muslims, that Islamic civilisation stagnated, then declined... got to be a connection there?

You mentioned that many of the 'Muslims' who translated Greek works into Arabic, (under Harun al Rashid?)were actually Christians... I have always wondered why these Greek works were never better utilised by Muslims - Aristotle's works on politics, for instance. Why no reflection on the theory of the state?

I wonder how many Arabic scholars, apparently 'Muslims', who, if their biographies might be more accurately known, might turn out to have been converts of Jewish and Christian parents, whose education was Jewish or Christian, but who converted simply to be able to get on? How authentically 'Muslim' or Arabic they were, is therefore open to doubt.

I have often wondered if the idealised portrait of the Mohammed of faith, the 'insan al kamil', how much it owed to Christianity? For this idealised portrait bears little relation to the historical Mohammed, but it does bear some similarity to the Jesus of faith. You mentioned the Alawis actually (reputedly) celebrating the Eucharist?

Posted by: devorgilla at March 30, 2008 12:27 PM

The last time I checked the stats for the interview with Mr. Spencer, we had over 1100 downloads in less than 48 hours.

If only the mainstream media would give Mr. Spencer so much time, uninterrupted, on the air!

Once again, WC and I express our gratitude for Mr. Spencer's giving us such a long interview and, of course, for his dedication to getting the word out about the teachings of Islam.

Posted by: Always On Watch at March 30, 2008 8:23 PM