The following is a summary of the October 2009 issue of the St. Croix Review:

In the editorial, "Words to Note," Barry MacDonald uses quotations from the President and Democrats, made in unguarded moments, that reveal their intent to impose government-run health care on an unsuspecting public.

Mark Hendrickson, in "The Healthcare Reform Fiasco," writes that President Obama is still grasping for as much control as possible; in "The Nuts and Bolts of Cap and Trade," he shows why cap and trade legislation should be called the "Raise the Cost of Living and Ship Jobs Overseas Act of 2009"; in "Remembering July 20, 1969," he reviews all the historical events that led to the moon landing, and considers whether, after all, these marvelous events mislead us into putting too much trust in government, and not enough trust in a merciful God; in "Detroit: A Glimpse Into America's Future?" he writes that Detroit suffers from "government disease," the redistribution of wealth to political allies and the neglect of primary duties (defense of life and property); in "The U.S. Constitution: Living, Breathing Document or Dead Letter?" he shows how we have become governed by "partial, subjective and capricious men and women."

Herbert London, in "Healthcare Reform and Personal Freedom," considers how a bureaucrat using Obamacare guidelines would ration care; in "The Crisis Syndrome," he notes that the President's practice of pronouncing every problem a "crisis" is a tactic that could backfire; in "Fatah Speaks," he describes the Obama administration's approach: apply pressure to Israel and ignore the blood-thirsty pronouncements of the Palestinians; in "Cronkite Revisited," he provides a contrary view of the celebrated newsman.

Allan Brownfeld in "Is It Irrational to Be Concerned about the Plight of the Elderly and Disabled under a Rationed Health-Care System?" writes that the vulnerable will receive reduced care under Democrat "reform"; in "The Case of Henry Louis Gates: Resisting the Reality of Our Increasingly Egalitarian Society -- and Celebrating an Early Conservative Who Has Always Put Country above Color," he sets the voices of those who decry the persistence of racism against a Black American who disagrees: Jay Parker; in "'Cash for Clunkers': A Dangerous Precedent of Government Intervention in the Economy," he show why the program is bad policy.

Norman D. Howard demonstrates that sometimes it takes a truckload of intelligence and knowledge to have common sense in "Some Impertinent Questions about Global Warming."

In "Michael Crichton Is Right!" Joseph Bast relates the scathing critique Michael Crichton made of the environment movement in his novel, State of Fear.

Paul Kengor, in "Saving Obama from Himself: The Machiavellian Thing vs. the Moral Thing on Healthcare," asks is there a downside to blocking Obamacare? Possibly, he thinks, but Obamacare must be stopped; in "Gore Unhinged," he shows that Al Gore's comparisons of climate-change advocates with Churchillian-Nazi fighters is nothing new.

In "Not 'Silent Cal' -- 'Thinking Cal' -- Correcting the Historical Image of Calvin Coolidge," L. John Van Til redeems the reputation of one of our great Presidents.

Jigs Gardner, in "Rebecca West and the Fruits of Romantic Utopianism in Our Time," shows how Miss West's utopian passions have played their part in the left's assault on Western traditions.

Thomas Martin reviews The Soul and Barbed Wire: An Introduction to Solzenitsyn, by Edward E. Ericson Jr., and Alexis Klimoff,