Times two

Dear New York Times editors,
I have a confession to make. I have been blogging for a couple of years and I have to admit that the financial renmuneration hasn't been good, to say the least. I would, therefore, like to apply for a postiton as a columnist at your paper. With columnists such as Thomas Friedman, Roger Cohen and Nicholas Kristof in your employ, it really behooves you to employ a Devorah, lest you be accused of being an unequal opportunity employer. If you hire me, I know the drill down pat. I would write a weekly column lamenting the deteriorating Middle East peace process, blame Israel and Netanyahu, and throw in a suitable quote from Haaretz. Of couse, I would also throw in an equivalence regarding the extremists on both sides - those who paint and those who shoot. An example would be one Thomas Friedman used in his latest editorial where he wrote about the "many unstable characters roaming around — like extremist Israeli settlers given to occasionally daubing “Muhammad is a Pig” on Muslim buildings in the West Bank and extremist Palestinians from groups like Islamic Jihad given to shooting Israeli civilians or lobbing mortars from Gaza onto Israeli towns."
On second thought, I would prefer to quote from INN and not draw equivalence between both sides of extremists. If you allow me to do so, and wish to contact me, just leave a comment on my blog.
Thank you for your kind attention.

Speaking of the New York Times, an article titled Obama Turns to Biden to Reassure Jewish Voters, and Get Them to Contribute, Too describes an incident in which a rabbi asked Vice President Joe Biden why Jonathan Pollard was still in prison.
“President Obama was considering clemency, but I told him, ‘Over my dead body are we going to let him out before his time,’ ” Mr. Biden said. “If it were up to me, he would stay in jail for life.”
What is it about Mr. Pollard that stirs up such strong feelings?