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With President Obama's push to reform health care gobbling up reams of newsprint lately, we decided that the time was ripe to put forth our modest proposal for lowering health care costs: raise insurance premiums for meat-eaters.

Now, before you Hardee's fans reach for your defibrillators, hear me out. Insurance companies charge you higher rates for other risky behaviors, such as smoking and skydiving, so why not charge you for chowing down on burgers and brats? After all, a Chili's Big Mouth Bites meal (which includes four "mini" bacon cheeseburgers) packs a whopping 2,350 calories! That's more calories than most people should eat in an entire day.

PETA has written to the top two medical insurance providers suggesting that they stick it to raise rates for meat-eaters while simultaneously lowering rates for vegetarians. In our letter, we point out that compared to meat-eaters, vegetarians are less prone to a myriad of ailments—including heart disease. (Heart disease, for those who are taking notes, is America's number-one killer disease.)

But hey, why wait for your insurance company to start charging you extra for those Buffalo wings and Philly cheese steaks? You can start doing your part to slash health care costs today by ordering a free copy of our "Vegetarian Starter Kit."

Written by Alisa Mullins

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What's the motto of Dallas, Texas—America's unofficial big hair capital? "Live Large. Think Big." Dallas property whiz Ari Nessel makes that motto his maxim. He encourages residents to "live large" at swanky apartments refurbished by his company, Nessel Development, and he "thinks big" about animals and the environment when developing new rental properties.

How so?

• Nessel Development welcomes spayed and neutered companion animals with open arms—and features dog parks at its properties.
• Ari makes sure that every new resident receives a copy of PETA's "Vegetarian Starter Kit."
• Staff members at Nessel Development headquarters enjoy free vegan lunches.
• Ari strives to reduce his company's use of energy, water, and materials by renovating properties instead of building new ones and keeping everything as energy-efficient as possible.

For his efforts to promote animal rights and protect the environment, Ari Nessel has earned PETA's "Compassionate Company" Proggy Award.

He joins other caring individuals, companies, and charities—such as U.S. Representative Dennis Kucinich, and Payless Shoe Source—that are working to make this world a better place for the people and animals who inhabit it.

Written by Karin Bennett

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When I was eight years old, I swore off aquariums forever after my dozen or so guppies committed suicide in the middle of the night. Rather than remain in a crowded, dirty tank, they leaped to their slow, suffocating deaths on the carpet.

The guilt that I carry around because of those poor fish has recently been rivaled by my anger and sadness at learning that Brookstone stores are hawking the "Frog-O-Sphere," a tiny aquatic prison that comes stocked with two African frogs and a snail (called "the janitor").

Brookstone tells its customers and employees that these frogs only need to have their water changed twice a year and to be fed twice a week. I can only imagine that those frogs will try to jump out of their cruel confines the first chance they get, so that they don't starve to death or die from poison.

Brookstone is offering a one-year warranty on the lives of the frogs, who can survive for five to 15 years in the wild. I guess that when the snail dies, the customers (and the frogs) are SOL—"the janitor" gets chucked into the garbage. And when customers place a complaint with the company, Brookstone offers up lame reasons why the Frog-O-Sphere is fine for these animals—reasons like "This species of frog will not out-grow the aquarium," and "when in the wild the African Dwarf Frogs generally live in a very small area of a pond or a stream." Then the company sends 'em 10 bucks.

PETA is squaring off with Brookstone, and we need you to write polite letters to the company urging it to join Magic Beans, "Tarjay," and other retailers that have stopped selling similar products prisons.

For anyone who insists on owning a portable, inexpensive, low-maintenance "aquarium," I have two words: "Koi Pond."

Written by Karin Bennett

Check out this stellar tweet from My Name Is Earl star Ethan Suplee:

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Way to spread the word, Ethan!

Written by Shawna Flavell