By Chris Cosci

In the past couple of years, Playboy magazine has made a lot of desperate attempts to attract readers. They have called upon insta-bride Darva Conger (just add Fox television), 80's pop star Tiffany, and practically every female cast member of each Survivor series.

Still, the wheels inside the heads of Playboy executives never stop turning. They are now accepting applications for their newest pictorial idea - The Women of Enron.

What better way to overcome the devastation of losing your job and your life savings than to take off all your clothes for a popular magazine? While most people in the energy business probably strive for the cover of Forbes or BusinessWeek, or even Energy Markets (the leading information source for utilities, gas/power marketers and end users in today's integrated energy marketplace - seriously), I'm sure Playboy is widely considered to be an admirable alternative.

Still, this may just open the doors for Enron alumni. And before you start calling me insensitive, alumni is the term Enron uses to refer to former employees on its web site. By using the term alumni, Enron looks as if they're trying to say, "hey - we're still a family." And I'm sure, like most colleges, Enron will start hitting up their alumni for money.

Anyway, back to my point. Playboy spokeswoman Elizabeth Norris sees this as "an opportunity for [former Enron employees] to do something fun in the midst of the turmoil that's going on in their lives." Classy. Norris also said, "we are offering what you could view as a part-time job, or what might turn into a new career." Of course, you could also view it as a cry for attention and a quick buck. That's the power of opinion.

And what does Enron think of this? Deborah DeFforge (who apparently makes enough money to afford an extra 'F' in her name), co-chairwoman of the Severed Enron Employees Coalition says, "it's kind of cute." Obviously, she's referring to an entirely new definition of the word cute as opposed to the standard definition used to describe newborn babies and puppy dogs.

Keeping her optimistic outlook, DeFforge noted that the employees have "had so much depressing news or stressful news," and it was nice of Playboy to "all of a sudden come up with something like that." Yes, those folks at Playboy sure are humanitarians - always thinking of the little people, especially the sexy ones.

Strangely, this call for women was not posted on Enron's web site. In fact, not much is being posted on their site except for a disclaimer that expresses their hope of "emerging from bankruptcy as a strong and viable, albeit smaller, company." Although they don't address the issue directly, it's obvious they foresee being a smaller company because of the mass exodus of employees to the gritty world of nude modeling.

In the end, I'm sure many women can benefit from this opportunity. After all, what do you think all of those male CEOs are reading when they close their office doors?