Message from a Time Traveler

Dan Simmons - Official Web Site ^ | April 1, 2006 | Dan Simmons

[null and void]

Probably not.

[mad_as_he$$]

Very good points. By the way did your see the story last week where there is now interest in OKC because Tim may have had Muslim cohorts? I always suspected that they were behind it in some manner. And there is still the "extra" lag to deal with.

[CurlyBill]

I didn't recognize the name but followed the link and found out he was the one that wrote HYPERION.

I probably should have done the same thing.

[SwordofTruth]

Powerful stuff.

Since time travel cannot occur, either now or at any time in the future, I fail to see anything powerful about this propaganda piece for a person who claims to have a 170 IQ.

[investigateworld]

Ya, but do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

[Shaun_MD]

see post #659 for the three words.

[jan in Colorado]

Ping to the future!

[pepsionice]

The essay ought to be mandatory reading for any American adult. Dan Simmons writes...what will become of us. The amusing thing here...is in the past week...Caper Weinberger died. Mr. Weinberger had a simple concept which he forced upon the Pentagon and the White House. You either commit to win or you don't do anything. The Clinton administration simply said it wouldn't commit. And the Bush administration simply said it'd commit to a campaign against terror...but really not much more than that. The last time I looked....Ossama was still walking freely and running his organization. We haven't committed to the fight yet...and Dan's essay is driving us to an end result.

Extremists are using every tool of democracy to their favor. They have freedom to travel to any land and preach ill-will against their guest nation. They have the ability to transfer vast sums of money without alot of control. They have western nations freely contributing to their fight by buying oil from corrupt middle-eastern nations. They have liberal free groups and citizens in various countries focusing on the Bush administration as a political tactic...to help bring down the administration. They have the media freely telling their story every night on TV. They have the Red Cross and various organizations condemning Gitmo whenever possible. They have congressmen and senators fighting any form of torture upon their warriors. They have politicians and governments attempting to legitimize the articles of the Geneva Convention upon an extremist group with no government.

Commit to fight...or just sit and wait for your downfall. That is the bottom line of the Time Traveler essay. And I really don't see us standing up and being willing to really fight.

[budwiesest]

OK, I give up. What are the three words?

Religion Of Death.

[Windsong]

This is not fiction.

*insert twilight zone theme here*

[Windsong]

Ya, but do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

You do know that Philip was a stark raving mad Leftist right? You should check out "The Making of Blade Runne" in the blade runner discussion group on usenet, or the video on emule. Very enlightening stuff. I think Ridley gave Blade Runner the same treatment that Robert Zemeckis gave Contact..namely a whole different tune than was orginally implied.

[Windsong]

The last time I looked....Ossama was still walking freely and running his organization.

Good god..its comments like this that make me think FR would be better off via subscription from its members. Since when were you a Ranger? Or on the Green Beret teams? SEALs? When did you see Osama "walking freely"?! Sigh..

[BulletBobCo]

bump

[Captainpaintball]

bump

[budwiesest]

You either commit to win or you don't do anything.

How about: You either commit to win, or you've already committed to losing?

The lion doesn't care that you failed to make your best effort at an escape, his only concern is an empty stomach.

[thefactor]

bump for finishing when i am not drunk...

[Citizen of the Savage Nation]

Good story. I glanced through 200+ replies and didn't see anyone notice the date of the article, I wonder if anyone did...

[Schwaeky]

Bingo! The first casualty in the modern Global War on Terror was not in Lebanon, Somalia, Tanzania, or New York, but the podium of the ballroom of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, CA, in 1968... Sirhan Sirhan was a Palestinian militant..

[.30Carbine]

Thank you very much for the ping. This thread makes for interesting reading: very thought provoking.

[investigateworld]

"You do know that Philip was a stark raving mad Leftist right?"

Yup, what can you expect from a dick.

The last SF I read was Larry Niven's "Fallen Angels".
A fun and accurate jab at the left!