A Spy Chief Gets Down, on the Farm
His job is tough, the hours stink, and the critics just keep coming--take last week's report on intelligence failures leading up to the Iraq war. But there's one thing that keeps CIA Director Porter Goss smiling through it all: He's got Retreat Farm in the back of his mind. That's the 575-acre Virginia spread the former Florida congressman and his wife bought back in 1999 and have since turned into a producer of organically grown fruits, veggies, and lean meats. "He doesn't get there often," says a friend, "but it's always in his mind." His plan was to move there, but then the job of a lifetime for an ex-CIA agent was offered. Before moving into CIA headquarters, Goss told Virginia Living magazine that farming "was the opposite of Washington. This is nice . . . not cutthroat." While he's absent, Mariel Goss has just reopened Mariel's Market, a farm stand in Rapidan, Va., featuring her "famous" blackberry jam. With all that's happening in Washington, Goss won't get a spoonful for quite a while, says a family friend, "but it's something he's looking forward to."
Hollywood's One-Man Police Force
Dan Glickman , Hollywood's new man in Washington, isn't just whining about crooks who illegally copy movies to sell on the streets. Glickman, the president of the Motion Picture Association of America, is conducting his own investigations. It all started during a recent trip to a Mexico City market where he found dozens of Hollywood's best for sale--all bootleg copies. He called the cops, and three days later the thieves were arrested. Now he's in India hoping to bust up theft rings. Inside MPAA, they call it the "Hollywood to Bollywood" campaign, a reference to India's movie industry. "Dan Glickman doesn't mess around," says an aide. "There's a new sheriff in town."
Bush Team, West Wing at War Again
White House and GOP insiders say they feel like suckers after falsely believing President Bush 's re-election would be met with acceptance from Hollywood. Their tip: Last month's West Wing episode in which the Alan Alda character blasted pols who use religion for political advantage. "Just when Hollywood was trying to get back in our good graces," said one insider, "they used that offensive script." Bushies think the script was targeting their boss. But Lawrence O'Donnell, a former Democratic Hill staffer, tells us he was just writing a good story, and he adds that the Alda character is a Republican presidential candidate. Then he let Bush have it. "If the White House worries that when that subject comes up it is somehow aimed at the president, well, you know, who told them to use religion in campaigning so much?" asks O'Donnell. "There's no one in our modern political history who has used his religiosity more deliberately and actively and falsely in campaigning than George Bush, second only to . . . Bill Clinton ."
Simple Life Too Weird for Pelosi
Fox's shockingly tasteless--and hilarious-- Simple Life turned out to be too much for Rep. Nancy Pelosi. This year, Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie are doing internships, and the producers approached the Democrat to see if the girls could lick stamps in the lawmaker's Washington offices. Thankfully, we hear, madam minority leader said no.
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