Pete Kaliner is the host of a daily radio talk show on Asheville’s WWNC (570-AM) that airs from 3 to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. This column features posts from his daily blog.

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The following was posted on Aug. 11:

I suspect this is why so many defenders of Planned Parenthood have not watched the undercover videos:

The only thing I hate more than talking about abortion is writing about it. It’s no accident that, in 2,000 columns over a quarter-century, I have never — ever —written about abortion.

I’ve avoided the topic like a root canal. But that is getting harder to do with the release of what are now five gruesome, albeit edited, undercover videos by The Center for Medical Progress depicting doctors and other top officials of Planned Parenthood discussing, and even laughing about, the harvesting of baby organs, as casually as some folks talk about the weather.

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For those of us who are pro-choice, the Planned Parenthood videos are a game changer. As to whether that means I’ll change my view, I’m not sure. I’m on the bubble. Ask me in a few weeks, after the release of more videos.

Blame Huckabee for all the GOP candidates

No. You’re not the only one wondering why there are enough GOP candidates to field a football team (albeit, an elderly and cruddy one).

Yahoo News took a look at this question the other day, and it’s all Mike Huckabee’s fault, apparently:

The presence of so many obscure candidates in the 2016 race — Jim Gilmore, Lincoln Chafee, James Webb, George Pataki, and so on — prompts an obvious question: Why are they running? 

Huckabee’s experience suggests one answer: Because running for president can be a highly lucrative form of work.

No serious candidate will admit to running for president purely as a self-promotional stunt. Some may be trying to gain exposure for a more serious run for office in the future. Others may be using a run to promote their companies or personal brands...

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 Angry e-mails make you angrier.

Spend any time in the comment section of a website (or as a talk radio host) and you’ll find this to be pretty obvious.

The research has been clear for decades: Venting is bad for us.

And yet we do it—more now than ever thanks to the ease of the Internet. The “e-vent”—expressing anger via email, text or chat, or on social media sites such as Facebook or Twitter—can be hard to resist. It’s speedy: We can share our frustration with a friend, or the world, almost immediately. It’s handy: We can e-vent from anywhere as long as we have our phone. And it feels safe: We’re behind a screen.

In studies, people report that they feel better after venting. But researchers find they actually become angrier and more aggressive. People who vent anonymously may become the angriest and most aggressive.

Hmmm... I might have to re-think my social media presence....

The following was posted on July 30:

 A dead lion, a dentist and a lot of high horses 

Another undercover video has been released — the fourth so far — showing ghoulish Planned Parenthood officials negotiating the sale of dead baby body parts. It concludes with the abortionist gleefully saying, “Another boy!” when dissecting the tiny legs.

But that’s not what people are outraged over.

Nope.

It’s Cecil the Lion — who was lured off a protected preserve by some Zimbabwean locals and killed by American dentist who paid $50,000 for the permit.

The dentist says he didn’t know it was Cecil the Lion (whose significance was unknown to most people until this week).

 The outrage mob is in full throat ... but, then again, when is it not?

 Now, as I understand the details of this particular case, it’s unclear whether the dentist was part of the scheme or whether he was conned by the locals — who had no permit to hunt a lion so went and found one for their “client.”

 Since then, the dentist has been publicly identified, his practice forced to shut down, and threatened with murder.

 If he was in on the scheme to lure, kill, and cover-up the killing of the animal, he should be prosecuted — just like the local “guides.”

 The incident is being used attack all big game hunters, in general. And I am struck by the raging hypocrisy and moral grandstanding that many people are exhibiting.

 The Pious Outrage Mob — comprised of keyboard tough guys and anonymous sanctimonious social media warriors — should only rightfully be populated with vegetarians, vegans, and people who don’t own leather products. Or any product that requires the killing of an animal.

 The Pious Outrage Mob is busily berating the hunter who kills an animal and hangs the hide on his wall as a trophy... but ignores a shopper who has someone else kill an animal and hangs the hide over her shoulder as a purse.

 There is ZERO moral difference between the hunter and the shopper in this example... except the one killed his trophy and the other did not.

 One does not avoid moral culpability of the murder of the animal simply by contracting out the killing to someone else.

 So, dear Members of the Mob, please listen...

 Your shoes? Your belt? Your car interior? Your sofa? Those are trophies, too. 

 And, no, I’m not a hunter. I don’t get the allure of it — particularly, killing solely for the trophy and not the meat. I have no appreciation for the trophy of a lion head on the wall, whereas I do appreciate a good pair of leather shoes.

 But I don’t hold the trophy hunters in contempt and assume a morally superior station simply because I prefer to use the animal skin in a different manner.

 Also, I eat beef, pork, chicken, fish, and turkey — knowing full well I could be a vegan.

 So could you, Member of the Mob.

 If you are using any non-essential product that requires the killing of an animal, you have no moral superiority on this.

 Here... let me help you off that horse. It looks pretty high up there.