Update: The people have spoken, and the new word cloud is here!

 If you could prevent animal suffering with just one word, would you? PETA is creating our own word cloud that will encourage Facebook and Twitter users to join the cause and help us end cruelty to animals, and we need your help deciding what the cloud should say.

Simply tweet a word that you think describes PETA and would motivate others to get involved, and use the hashtag #PETACloud. We'll choose the most inspiring words to create our cloud, which you can share with your friends. Not yet a PETA pal? "Like" or follow us for up-to-the-minute animal news, contests, and action alerts.

 
Written by Michelle Sherrow

Look at this photo and tell me: Do you think the shorter girl looks as if she can't wait to tattle on the taller one? Of course, I do—and my sister could offer endless examples of how I tattled on her for all sorts of naughty behavior. Especially cursing, which she did so often that our exasperated mom set up a swear jar.

Both the tattletale and animal defender inside me are very excited to learn that SwearJarr has chosen PETA as one of the charities that will receive donations from social networking potty mouths who are busted by other Tweeps ("Swear Police"). Imagine raising money to combat cruelty by busting foul-mouthed offenders on Twitter.

So sign up to follow the @swear_police on Twitter, and then head to the SwearJarr Web site. Once you are there, enter in your Twitter screen name to figure out your fine, and then make a donation to PETA based on how much you've sworn. Take a tip from our Twitterer extraordinaire and share the amount that you owe with all your followers.

Please act quickly—PETA's time to receive SwearJarr donations is limited. After the end of this month, another charity will be named to receive donations.

Written by Karin Bennett

For everyone who voted for Olivia Wilde, the female winner of PETA's 2010 Sexiest Vegetarian Celebrity contest, the sizzling actor has some words of thanks:

Right back at 'cha, Olivia. Welcome to the Sexy Veg family.

Written by Alisa Mullins

Has Entourage star Jerry Ferrara gone vegetarian? He's definitely slimmer and trimmer after trading in "burgers and fries for tofu and organic fruits and veggies."

To ensure a definitive "yes" to that question—so that we can add him to the list of contenders in next year's Sexiest Vegetarian Celebrity contest—we're sending Jerry a copy of our vegetarian/vegan starter kit as well as a copy of Chef Tal Ronnen's bestseller The Conscious Cook. Here's hoping that the info about death-defying, sexifying cuisine will help everyone's favorite Turtle ditch the drama and make a commitment to a cruelty-free diet.

Written by Karin Bennett

Heard about the "Vegan Before 6" movement? Well, how about the "weekend vegan?" That's what CNN dubbed Jessica Simpson after she tweeted about test-driving a vegan diet:

Hmm, is tofu the "gateway" food to hardcore vegan living? We hope so, and to help Jessica stay "clean," PETA is sending her a copy of our vegetarian/vegan starter kit and Alicia Silverstone's book, The Kind Diet.

What advice would you give Jessica to help her stick to her vegan diet?

Written by Paula Moore

As NASA public affairs specialist Stephanie Schierholz took to the stage at Monday's TWTRCON to weigh in on "customer service," animal defenders elsewhere took to their Twitter accounts and took over the #TWTRCON hashtag—specifically weighing in on NASA's plan to fund a misguided, cruel, and wasteful experiment in which dozens of squirrel monkeys would be blasted with harmful space radiation.

Tweets about NASA's radiation experiments started appearing on large projectors flanking the sides of the stage that the conference was using to display tweets about the event. One attendee reported that after the NASA representative responded to the surprise Twitter protest by shrugging her shoulders and rolling her eyes, curious audience members could be heard tapping on their keyboards for more information about NASA's plans to bankroll the torment of monkeys at the Brookhaven National Laboratory and Harvard's McLean Hospital.

Schierholz reportedly muttered, "[M]aybe we're experimenting on monkeys." No, NASA—if caring people have anything to say about it, you won't be. We'll keep tweeting and taking to the streets, the phone lines, and online petitions until your plans for these cruel, senseless experiments are canceled.

Written by Karin Bennett

Ronald's busy peddling dead, dismembered chickens to children, so McDonald's hired Rick Wion to promote its cruel products on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. So let's welcome Rick to our big, happy online family and politely let him know why we're not eating at McDonald's.

PETA has more than 60,000 followers on Twitter, so this is a great opportunity for us all to band together and encourage McDonald's new director of social media to do what he can to help chickens from the inside by signing our Twitition.

If you haven't already, "like" PETA on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to stay in the know about ways you can help chickens and other animals!

Written by Heather Moore

© Star Max Inc.

PETA pal Pink recently tweeted that she had "… the BESTest day" with her "amazing sexy hubby," Carey Hart, riding around on beach cruisers and watching the circus. Not to worry, though—our girl Pink would never attend the kind of circus that tears baby elephants away from their mothers and beats them with bullhooks. Pink's tweet continued: "Not the real circus people. No animals, just people. That look and behave like animals. On acid. Tis' a colorful world." We should all take a cue from this compassionate couple and support one of the many circuses that leave animals in peace and feature only amazingly talented—and, most importantly, willing—human performers!

Via Vegetarian Star

Written by Lindsay Pollard-Post

Looking for a way to rebel against a Debbie Friedman–saturated childhood this Passover?

OK, as the daughter of a Hebrew school principal/music director, maybe it's just me, but everyone should check out Jewish-vegan-reggae-rock-hip-hop artist Matisyahu, whose video for "One Day" was rated one of the 10 most inspiring videos on the Web.

In response to a suggestion that he put a shrimp on the barbie while he's in Australia, Matisyahu recently tweeted, "Sorry babe [shrimp are] not kosher plus I went vegan."

The last time Matisyahu played in Norfolk, PETA delivered him a basket of vegan treats along with the video "If This Is Kosher…" narrated by Jonathan Safran Foer. The video shows footage from an investigation at Agriprocessors, the world's largest kosher slaughterhouse.

This is the year I start a new Passover tradition by sending my dad a similar PETA gift basket, only with a Matisyahu CD and a card reading, "Beets Beat Brisket." Leave a comment with your favorite compassionate Passover tradition (or a better slogan for my card)!

Written by Heather Drennan

As one of America's toughest trainers, The Biggest Loser's Bob Harper is hardcore. He's taken 100 pounds off a man in a mere seven weeks (remember Rudy?), breaks contestants down and builds them back up during Last Chance Workouts, and gives us the skinny with his Trainer Tips on NBC. Now he's focused on challenging the country to a 24-hour vegan cleanse.

Bob's latest tweet reads, "Your Challenge today is to go the next 24 hours, starting now eliminating ALL animal products. Good for your heart AND the environment!!"

Go vegan? But how? Well, in the famed words of Bob himself, "Just stop talking and do it!" Or, you know, a vegetarian/vegan starter kit works just as well.

Written by Christine Doré