[img nocaption float=”right” width=”640″ height=”426″ render=”<%photoRenderType%>”]8868[/img] Yakutat Bay, Alaska

WE SET SAIL from Juneau last night around 9:00 p.m., just as the sun was finally breaking through the clouds–the days are long up here. Tuesday morning began with a lengthy panel discussion featuring Bill Kristol, Fred Barnes, Michael Gerson, Terry Eastland, Fred Kagan, Phil Terzian, and Claudia Anderson. Up for grabs were a broad range of political issues and we opened the floor to questions right off the bat. The session became a discussion with the audience on topics ranging from immigration to healthcare reform to taxes to the future of the Republican party–it was a great chance for everyone to get involved.

Afterwards, Claudia Anderson gave a presentation of clips from Arab television which had been translated by the stalwarts at MEMRI. It was by turns harrowing and hilarious. For example, one clip featured a young child being interviewed by an Arab TV program: the boy told the interviewer that his mother was in paradise after having martyred herself by killing five Jews. In another spot, an Arab commentator railed against America soft drinks for being–you guessed it–tools of the Zionists. Pepsi, he informed the audience, stood for “Pay Each Penny Save Israel; Coca-Cola, he claimed, has invested “hundreds of millions of dollars” in efforts to topple the Iranian regime. Have a Coke and a smile!