Hmm, interesting quotes. But I am pretty sure the guy is dead wrong. If I am right with my own theories of the show, then Faraday and Mrs. Hawking are not 100% wrong in his "if it didn't happen, it can't happen".

I think the writers meant it when they said Mrs. Hawkings rules of time travel are the rule they themselves will follow, and I am pretty sure they are still following that rule too (with the exception of Desmond's memory of Daniel popping into existence). They cited Heroes as an example of what a confusing mess things can become when time travelers are allowed to muck with everything, and they wanted to avoid this sort of thing themselves.

Daniel explained himself right before taking a deep breath and knocking on the door to the Swan that Desmond seemed to be different suggesting that the rule did not apply to him. Desmond has something special about him, and I might even go as far as to say that Widmore may have intentionally deployed Des on the island so that he could change the rules (if you remember last season, Ben was quite pissed at this changing of the rules). Keep in mind, no Desmond on the island, no Penny searching for it and finding it, and no Charlie opening up communications and allowing the freighter to find the island, which ultimately would mean no Keamy coming to the island and blowing a hole in Ben's adopted daughter.

I am willing to bet little Ben has not taken his last breath, and that a certain spinal surgeon is about to out himself as the workman he is not. And I am even more willing to bet that Benjamin Linus will grow up remembering the man who shot him, and the man who killed him. He has been pretty harsh on Sayid, because he tried to kill him, and he has always really liked Jack, and had confidence Jack could remove his tumor and knew he wouldn't let him die, because he didn't let him die when he was a kid.

Crazy? Absolutely, and that is why we love it so much.