In case you missed "The Generation Gasp" on Saturday...

You may recall reading the October 5th Gasp, which was posted on this Blog.  What Claire and I didn't know at the time was that the newspaper, where the Gasp has run weekly for the past two years, had chosen not to publish the column.  It took two email queries to finally pry this response from the editor:

Hi Jim,

We didn't run Saturday's Gasp because it was too biased against one political 
party.

We depend on national columnists to handle such topics.

Ron Gower

P.S.

Effective yesterday, we have a new editor, Marta Gouger.

You can send your column to tneditor@tnonline.com.

A coincidence that the "one political party" is the one favored by the newspaper?  We doubt it.

I next wrote to the new editor and received this response:

Dr. Castagnera,

Thank you for writing. I am aware of the incident with your column.

I just started two days ago so I have not  actually read most of your columns. 
My apologies.

I understand Ron's reluctance to run your column on the shutdown. The focus was 
on more of a national issue.

I will eventually be looking at all features but see no reason at this point for 
stopping any columns.

I promise that I will catch up soon. Right now I am still navigating the 
computer system.

Thanks for your contribution to our newspaper.

Sincerely,

Marta Gouger


Well, Ms. Gouger, I'm afraid that response just doesn't cut it.  Was this the first time our column focused on a "national issue"?  Nope.  Was the real reason that we were just too tough on your paper's favored party?  I think so.


And so, sadly, after two years, "The Generation Gasp" has gasped its last... at least in its usual venue.


But Claire and I will keep right on writing.  So watch for us.


And, in case you missed it the first time around, below is the October 5th column that was too objectionable to be run in the Times-News: http://www.tnonline.com/news/columns/thegenerationgasp

• The Generation Gasp: October 5, 2013