Mary Duenwald, one of Shipley’s two deputies, says that ideas come out of meetings in which editors discuss possible columns to commission from VIPS and people in the news with recognizable names, never nobodies. Topics and names are suggested. 99 percent of all Times opeds happen this way....

So the Times opeds are hardly democratically selected pieces. Par for the course? Fore!

once upon a time on a unique affluent island surrounded by a mote of common islands, lived the observant jewish merkin dynasty. loved by all for their kindess and generosity, they ruled the island for more than a generation. one of the daughters, princess daphne, loved to write about herself and spent hours and hours writing in her journal. one day, the “town crier” offered her the privilege to publicly air her familial grievances.

unwittingly, she appeared to be a caricature of ali macgraw in “goodbye, columbus” by Philip Roth, lacking much confidence and self-esteem. her unresolved royal family issues of a detached father, and a nagging mother, were a work in progress. whatever her shrink in the king’s court brought to the surface, she transferred to pen and paper, airing her dirty laundry for all to know...not unlike woody allen in “manhattan”.

how ever “intolerable” the emperor and emperess were, she had been royally endowed with a substantial inheritance from them to indulge her favorite subject: her self-absorbed and chronic misery, spending endless amounts of money and time over-analyzing her self-perpetuating interpersonal “problems”. only a spoiled princess like herself could sense the pea on the bottom mattress.

“Daphne Merkin’s mini-acknowledgment, worked out with her editors at The Times, raised the old question of how much disclosure a newspaper owes its readers so that they can assess a writer’s connections and motives.”

the inference is that prince ezra must actually be an impersonal “sibling” in her eyes. there is no love lost there. her ambivalence in choosing to stoically name him, rather than being prodded to compromise with an editor, to simply “allude” to him, is obvious: SHE HAS A TERRIBLE RELATIONSHIP WITH HER ROYAL SIBLING, EZRA! if she didn’t, she would have affectionately referred to him as her brilliant and philanthropic “prince of a brother”, trusting his managerial acumen and financial guidance. She would have also mentioned both she and HE were “casualties” of the “royal treasurer”, madoff. but alas, she was never part of her brother’s inner circle of royalty-- those who had the “honour and privilege” of bequeathing their inheritances to the man with the “midas touch”.

actually, princess daphne should not be humiliated or embarrassed by her sibling. ezra provided her with a little bit of shalom…

daphne merkin is a negative, self-centered, sad-sack. with all of her fortune, it is long past the time she should have her act together! the Times might make more needed money for their “town crier” with a positive opinion writer in these “worst of Times”.

it appears that the entire family of the “bibical” emperor, hermann merkin needs some new clothes...for ezra, prison stripes for a very long time would be quite satisfactory.