In this week's episode of Topic A, T-Bro, perhaps a bit disillusioned by 50 Cent and The Game's sparring posses, calls upon the hip-hop community to call a truce. Now, if only they knew of Tina's existence...good thing she enlists Al Sharpton and Russell Simmons in her crusade. Before not-talking-about-Jacko by talking-about-how-they're-not-going-to-talk-about-Jacko, Tina also brings Debra Winger back to life and confesses her love of sappy cop drama Blind Justice. Henry the Intern's vomit-speckled review after the jump.

Stop the presses: Tina Brown is seeking a truce in the rap wars. She has called in Reverend Al Sharpton, of campaign '04 fame, and hip-hop mogul/Jersey resident Russell Simmons to provide positive spin. Sharpton denounced the FCC for overlooking the "values of 50 Cent" but attacking Janet Jackson and Howard Stern: "All we hear is the violence...we ought to be dealing with the positive side." Simmons added, "There is a lot of good news from the hip-hop community," like charitable work, "but that is not news." Tina asked, "When does it get old, to have street cred' from acts of violence?" Simmons responded, "It's up to the media...the low-note seems easy if you don't know the culture."

Next, Tina interviewed actress Debra Winger (who?). Winger took time off to live — "I wasn't telling the stories I wanted to tell" — and she now prefers to promote middle-aged women "that have done so much [and] have also committed themselves to motherhood." She yearns to "take that energy and passion and reassert it, because we have so much knowledge about how the world works." Somehow we would "find our way back to some sort of humanism [and] put the United States back on track because we are so off track."

Tina asked Salameh Nematt, the Washington Bureau Chief of Al-Hayat, if there is a "real sea change" in how Arab world views democracy or if it is "just a mirage." Nematt said people are cautious: "I wouldn't say the winds have changed," but Iraq "did begin to establish their own democracy." He advocated a combination of hard and soft approaches — "carrots and sticks" — and said "there was no other way" to contain Saddam Hussein.

The editor's desk was faced with a conundrum: talk about Michael Jackson, ignore Michael Jackson, or talk about not talking about Michael Jackson. Tina chose the third way: "On Thursday, fifty people were blown up in Iraq," but we were looking at MJ's PJs. Apparently Thursday's media spree — and her column on the trial — was not enough for Tina. She asked, seemingly powerless, "can we say enough is enough?" Luckily, Wonkette Ana Marie Cox was there — cough, no conflict of interest here — to provide perspective: "Perhaps we can... I like how you set this segment up," yet "I know that we have to keep talking about it for another ten minutes." Tina turned defensive, "Until the pajamas, I had in fact checked-out... I felt there was no suspense in the trial," at which point Cox pulled out the third-person: "She was drawn back in because she had a column to write." Vanity Fair's James Wolcott and CNBC anchor Dylan Ratigan dug for deep analysis: Jackson can't buy or fame his way out of this one.

Ignore Michael Jackson, please. This is the time to be high-brow. And another thing, would it hurt to have an update on the trial of Lil' Kim? Tina should be all over that.

The panel agreed the firing of Boeing's CEO after revelations of his affair with a senior employee was justified. Ratigan explained, "He came in as the ethics CEO," and, "is held by a higher standard." Wolcott added, "I don't like this notion of anonymous tipsters." Tina suspected the CEO's wife leaked the dirty emails; Cox wondered, "Where would we be without disgruntled wives?"

Hot picks:
Wolcott: Camille Paglia's latest, Break, Blow, Burn
 Ratigan: "The CBS Late Late Show" with Craig Ferguson
Cox: The Moving Target by Ross Macdonald, "my absolute favorite mystery writer."
Eugene Robinson, WaPo: Gizoogle.com, "to speak like Snoop Dogg."
Tina: ABC's "Blind Justice" — "I've become an addict." (Cox: "I can't believe you liked 'Blind Justice'!")

Closing quote by Marlene Dietrich: "In America, sex is an obsession, in other parts of the world, it's a fact."