Crossed Wires: Boxer Holyfield swings for sun, Sempra lobbyist reinstated

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Related Companies Entergy Corp. (ETR) Sempra Energy (SRE)

Related Documents Press Release (PR) Entergy Louisiana LLC 10/8/2009, filed on 10/8/2009 Industry Document "First Lady Encouraging Students To Participate In Fifth Annual Ornament Competition" presented on 10/22/2009 Industry Document "Mayor Bloomberg Announces 30 Initiatives to Grow New York City's Green Economy" presented on 10/22/2009 Industry Document "Evander Holyfield Faces a New Challenger: Global Warming" presented on 9/24/2009

Related Articles 9/15/2009 Crossed Wires: Sempra's sex scandal, 'historical' transmission lines and power line parodies

Related Power Plants Waterford

You mean a politician was all talk and no action?

Sempra Energy has reinstated the female lobbyist who got caught up in the dirty-talking California lawmaker scandal.

California state Assemblyman Mike Duvall resigned in September after bragging about his sexual conquests during a recorded appropriations committee hearing in July. Forgetting that a microphone remained on during a break, Duvall was heard boasting about sexual liaisons with Sempra Energy lobbyist Heidi DeJong Barsuglia. She denied that she had any inappropriate relations with him.

"The U.S. Attorneys Office, FBI and California Fair Political Practices Commission all have announced that their investigations into the unsubstantiated reports about former Assemblyman Duvall and our employee have been closed and no further action is warranted," Sempra said in a Nov. 2 statement. "Consistent with the outcome of the government investigations and Sempra Energy's own investigation, we have closed our review of this personnel matter and reinstated our employee to active status."

Duvall will reportedly not face federal prosecution.

According to various reports, Barsuglia issued a statement saying that the experience has been a professional and personal nightmare. "I did nothing whatsoever illegal or unethical with former Assemblyman Duvall or anyone else."

Argh, it's 'Cap'n Trade' on Comedy Central

The way Jon Stewart tells it, the proposed cap-and-trade bill sounds funny.

First, there's the name itself: Cap-and-trade. Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" Oct. 5 segment, "Carbon Copout," presented a graphic of cereal icon Cap'n Crunch and host Jon Stewart comically struggling to explain how the proposed system would work in pirate-speak. He proceeded to speak plainly: "Cap and trade is a great plan with a great name," he said. "The plan allows polluters who have money to keep doing what they're doing. Like in the old days when indulgences allowed sinners in the Catholic Church to pay for the right to sin again. But apparently even that's too strict for the Republicans."

The full segment can be viewed here.

Holyfield going for the green, movie screens

Four-time heavyweight boxing champion Evander Holyfield announced in September his new green initiative. Plans call for constructing a 40-acre solar energy system on his estate in Georgia. Global NES-Georgia Inc. will collaborate on the solar project.

"Television and film projects figure importantly in Evander's newly announced Green initiatives," said a Sept. 24 news release. "Talks are currently underway with networks and studios as well as Mr. Holyfield's Business Manager, Dwayne Corbitt of FarCor Studios, Los Angeles, all eager to work with the team and its cause."

One suggested pitch: "Green World," a reality show starring Holyfield, actor and activist Ed Begley Jr., Jessica Simpson, Shannen Doherty and Bill Nye the Science Guy.

The boxer appeared on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" on Oct. 16 to discuss his green initiative.

Out of the ring, Holyfield has his own Real Deal Warrior merchandise line and has taken on George Foreman's grill with his own product, the Real Deal Grill.

We smell Real Deal Solar Grills being cooked up.

Deck the halls with wind turbines and nuclear reactors

West Virginia First Lady Gayle Manchin is encouraging students to create energy-themed ornaments for the Christmas tree at the state Capitol.

This is the fifth-annual ornament competition; in the past, students were asked to create everything from a bell to a star to a snowflake to a stocking decoration. The winning ornaments will be displayed in the governor's mansion during the holiday season, and in January 2010 the winning ornaments will be donated to the West Virginia State Museum for their permanent collection. In addition, the state's first lady will visit the schools of the four winning classes during the holiday season.

The entry deadline is Nov. 6. Some last-minute suggestions for the kids:

Cut the Mr. Clean image off a box of Magic Eraser and tape it to a lump of coal. Viola, it's clean coal for Christmas!

Paint one of those curly energy efficient bulbs green. Add mini-ornaments to so it resembles a Christmas tree. Call the entry "Energy Efficient Biomass."

Remove the hook sections from two candy canes. Place the two sticks parallel to each other into the top of a rectangle of clay, and you have now built the cutest little power plant (on time and on budget, too).

Question: What do Obama, college baseball and a nuclear reactor have in common?

Answer: We don't know.

An Oct. 8 news release from Entergy Corp. caused a stir in the SNL Energy newsroom: Some said it appears to be written by someone who suffers from "… but what I really want to be is a writer," syndrome. Others argued that it appeared to be a severe case of either boredom or writer's block.

The consensus, however, is that this is one of the oddest news release leads we've seen in a while: "A lot of significant events occurred over the past year. A new president was elected, LSU won college baseball's national championship, and, most recently, Entergy's Waterford 3 nuclear power station posted a continuous run of more than 365 days."