Victory Update: Following a year of vigorous campaigning, PETA has learned that government officials have grounded plans for a cruel and ineffective radiation experiment on monkeys. Learn more about this victory for monkeys.

Employees at Brookhaven National Laboratory might have thought that their ears where playing tricks on them when they showed up at work Wednesday morning to find a message on their phones from none other than Alicia Silverstone. The not-so-Clueless actor is so fired up about NASA's plans to fund an experimenter to bombard up to 30 squirrel monkeys with radiation at the facility that she sent a passionate phone message to each of Brookhaven's more than 1,000 employees urging them to reject the experiments.

Alicia informed Brookhaven staffers that if the experiments go forward, then intelligent, social primates would be locked up in cages for the rest of their lives. The radiation could cause them to suffer brain damage, cancer, or even blindness.

She also told them that NASA's European counterpart—the European Space Agency—has publicly condemned such experiments on monkeys.

Your tax dollars would be paying for these cruel and unnecessary experiments. Please add your two cents' worth to Alicia's by dropping Brookhaven's head honchos a line, letting them know that you oppose NASA's planned experiments on monkeys, and asking them nix the experiments right now. And don't forget to urge everyone you know to pick up the phone too. We can save these monkeys.

Written by Jennifer O'Connor

What do you get when two of our all-time favorite people—Oprah Winfrey and Alicia Silverstone—tackle the topic of America's addiction to cheaply raised, unhealthy animal products? An episode of Oprah that's both a chilling reality check and a charming hunger-inducer.

Oprah's never been one to shy away from the hard-hitting issues, and on yesterday's show she took a critical look at modern factory farming methods. Viewers were given a glimpse of modern farming methods and were, no doubt, shocked to see footage of chicks tumbling down a chute—as though they were nothing more than paper clips on an assembly line—and adult chickens, belly up, struggling to breathe in jam-packed, stench-filled sheds. But, never one to leave her audience without a solution to an issue, Oprah invited the vivacious and lovely Alicia Silverstone to the show to teach viewers about delicious, satisfying vegan alternatives to meat-laden and dairy-drenched foods.

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While Alicia set to work making mouthwatering recipes from her cookbook, The Kind Diet, she also revealed that her acne, insomnia, and asthma all vanished when she went vegan. If I weren't already dining on a cruelty-free diet, those facts combined with Alicia's recipe for Artichoke, Mushroom and Leek Crostinis would have been enough to get me to try it out. So tell us: Was it the food or the health benefits that finally convinced you to try a vegan diet?

Written by Karin Bennett

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In the wise words of Alicia Keys, "Let's hear it for New York!" With this gubernatorial compassion and Bethenny Frankel's scorching new ad, I've never been more proud to be a New Yorker—or more inspired tell all my friends in NYC to contact their councilmembers.

Written by Logan Scherer

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Well, Jessica's thinking about opening her heart and home to a new pooch and word on the street is that she "wants a rescue dog."

We're thrilled to hear that she's thinking about rescuing a dog instead of buying one from a breeder. Today, we wrote to the star to urge her adopt her new friend from an animal shelter, pointing out that millions of dogs are euthanized at shelters every year simply because there aren’t enough homes for all of them. Even if she has her heart set on a particular breed, there are many purebreds at open-admission animal shelters and certainly many who are in the care of breed-specific rescue groups.

We hope, hope, hope that Jessica Simpson will join the long list of caring celebrities, including Charlize Theron, Katherine Heigl, Kyra Sedgwick, Audrina Patridge, and Alicia Silverstone, who have saved a life (or two or three) by adopting homeless animals.

Written by Karin Bennett

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… in the kitchen. Freshman U.S. Representative Jared Polis, the first openly gay person to be elected to Congress as a non-incumbent, may not be a vegan (yet), but he lives like one, thanks to his partner, animal rights activist and writer Marlon Reis.

In an article about the Colorado Democrat, Roll Call reports,

[Polis'] partner is a vegan, and although [Polis] eats meat, the couple keeps a vegan household. … [Polis'] shoes and belt are "cruelty free"—meaning no animals were involved, he says. The shoes—he pops one off casually to check the brand when asked—are a brand called "Bourgeois Bohème."

Reis is the first same-sex partner of a member of Congress to be recognized as "spouse" on his congressional ID card. His days are spent working on his vegan culinary skills and his new novel, which he hopes "will give readers the reason they've been missing to give animals the fair consideration they deserve …."

Now, PETA isn't suggesting that you should run out and start a tawdry affair, but make no mistake: We believe that slipping some Cheatin "chorizo" into the chili is always a good thing.

Written by Karin Bennett

Our favorite naked vegan has written a new book, The Kind Diet, which comes out in October. The book is all about living a vegan lifestyle, and Alicia had some great things to say to Health about the benefits of eating cruelty-free:

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"You can hear your needs and desires more clearly. You're just more juicy—there's just this lightness that happens."

"Once you're informed, then you can be really gentle and kind to yourself, by giving yourself all the gifts life has to offer—like mental clarity and vitality—all while making the planet better."

"It's weird to be 32 now and feel and look younger. What saved me was my love of animals. Right after I first made the switch to a plant-based diet, people were literally telling me, 'What have you done? You're sparkling.'"

I think I'm going to print myself a T-shirt. It'll either read, "Sparkling, Juicy Vegan" or "Juicy Like Alicia." Decisions, decisions …

Written by Amanda Schinke

Hey D.C.ers, this one's for you. Tomorrow morning, when you're picking up that cup o' joe and morning paper before catching the Metro, look out for our sleek new "Vegetarian Starter Kit" stands. They are popping up all over the city—at last count, there were more than 50.

So grab the latest copy of our "Vegetarian Starter Kit." Alicia Silverstone, Russell Simmons, and animals everywhere will appreciate it, and we're sure you will find someone to pass it on to at work or play. Won't you now?

Written by Shawna Flavell

Alicia Silverstone’s wonderful ad is in some very impressive company in TV Guide’s “Best of 2007” viral video list, including two of the very greatest videos of all time (IMHO): Will Ferrell’s “The Landlord,” and Justin Timberlake’s utterly glorious “Dick in a Box.” For anyone who works in marketing, you’ll know that companies tend to use the term “viral video” for pretty much any visual media they can come up with (it tends to be more of a wistful hope than an actual description of the video in question), but some videos really are “viral”—i.e., millions of people watch them, post them on their blogs, and pass them onto their friends—and it’s a truly incredible experience to be involved with one.

You can see TV Guide’s full list here, and here’s a reprise of the stunning pro-vegetarianism PSA that took 2007 by storm.

Update: Following the success of Alicia’s PSA, Sky News put together a wonderful retrospective of PETA’s many naked ads and protests over the past year. You can check out the picture gallery here.

The folks in Houston were severely deprived yesterday, when their cable provider decided at the last minute (literally) that it would pull Alicia Silverstone's super sexy new pro-vegetarianism ad, which had already been approved and paid for. Comcast Cable told us that they had banned the spot "because she is naked," despite the fact that the ad has already aired on numerous news programs worldwide. Besides, as PETA Vice President Dan Mathews pointed out in a staff meeting today, they showed Holly Hunter's naked ass on Saving Grace the other night, so, um, what's the problem here, Comcast?

We had picked Houston because it consistently ranks in the top ten least healthy cities in the country, so we figured they could use some good diet advice (honestly, who in their right mind would turn down friendly diet advice from the beautiful Alicia Silverstone?), but Houstonians need not despair. As PETA President Ingrid Newkirk puts it,

And finally, because I love it so much, here is the ad again. Alicia, you are gorgeous.

What can I say, Alicia Silverstone is amazing. She never misses an opportunity to talk about veganism and animal rights. I think she might have just won my vote in our “World’s Sexiest Vegetarian” contest.

Check it out here.