This week on CNBC's "Topic A": Tina's illustrious panel tackles sex and terror with a dash of the good ol' gay. Slapper Stanley Crouch gives his two cents about gay Jersey ex-Governor Jim McGreevey, which is kind of like having the Daughters of the American Revolution judge the Black Inches Centerfold of the Year contest. Henry the Intern watches so you can spend Sunday nights staring at HBO in peace.

In a discussion about politics and terror with three "formers," Tina said New York has become "the republic of fear." Former mayor Ed Koch, former Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, and former Deaniac Joe Trippi agreed President Bush is most likely to benefit from a pre-election attack. Trippi saw holes in the image of Bush as protector-in-chief. That's common sense for a president, he said. Koch went out on a limb for this liberal show: "I do believe the media is overwhelmingly for Kerry and uses the programs they have for that purpose."

Tina spoke with publisher Judith Regan, executive producer of a new Jenna Jameson TV bio-flick. Over quickly-spliced provocative images of Jameson, Regan explained the roots of Jameson s rage. Said Jameson, in an excerpt from the film: "My dad never said a single word to me about anything when it came to sex or becoming a woman, so I just experimented to the point of becoming really good at it, and that only took a couple of weeks." Tina found Jameson's book "completely gripping." Tina and Regan didn't have enough time to judge the impact of Jameson & Co. on their teenage daughters, though Regan complained it's now considered appropriate behavior for boys to call girls whores.

Stephen Fry, writer/director of "Bright Young Things," said his film is "Britain's 'Great Gatsby.'" Tina and Fry concurred the level of anti-Americanism overseas is at an all-time high. Fry said tribalism is back: "To say you love your country is a bit like hanging your dangly bits out of your trousers." Replying to Tina's query about New Jersey's gay governor, Fry said he was long aware of his own homosexuality: "I remember looking back at my mother and saying, 'That's the last time I'm getting on one of those.'"

Tina described the Editor's Desk Roundtable as "smart, way too literate." Vanity Fair's James Wolcott, the Daily News' Stanley Crouch, Newsweek's Holly Peterson, and Democratic fundraiser/activist James Neal responded to Governor McGreevey's "Oprah-like" gay resignation. Wolcott said he gasped at "I am a gay American." Tina and Peterson were hung up on the "almost-medicated smile" of Jersey's First Lady. Peterson speculated she either "got a big shot of Zoloft in her behind" or received bad advice. Crouch commented that everyone's a victim now: "That's the basic nature of America, whatever works, everybody uses it."

Returning to the Jameson thread, the panel turned to Olympians posing in Playboy and FHM. Tina revealed she likes looking at the photos. Peterson thought "people are uncomfortable when women step out of their prescribed role," but Crouch ridiculed that as "garbage," asking, "How is it that every time the female is supposed to be asserting her independence from men. . . they do everything that they have always been complaining about?" For example, he said, "Madonna and Lil'Kim are the two hos of the apocalypse" because "they play into the male fantasy." Neal said for photos of men, less is more: "There is a certain degree of sexiness about what you can't see than what you can see."

Hot picks of the week:

James Neal: "Control Room"

James Wolcott: "End of the Century," a documentary about the Ramones

Holly Peterson: "The Birth of Venus" by Sarah Dunant

Stanley Crouch: "Don't the Moon Look Lonesome," his own novel

Tina: "Mistress of the Elgin Marbles" by Susan Nagel

Also, Tina requested more emails be sent to topicawithtinabrown@nbc.com. "We always read them," she said. "We" as in intern Chris Schwarz?

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