London-based news magazine The Economist endorses Barack Obama’s reelection based on two factors: “How good a president has Mr. Obama been, especially on the main issues of the economy and foreign policy? And can America really trust the ever-changing Mitt Romney to do a better job?”---

Top of the Alty World

“Our American Endorsement: Which One?”—The Economist

In other interesting endorsement news, Rufus Friday, the black publisher of the Lexington Hearald-Leader, breaks with his editorial board and endorses Mitt Romney.—The Root

The Texas Observer profiles the free-market dystopian nightmare that is ”Koch World,” the area of Corpus Christi essentially owned and run by Koch brothers businesses.—The Texas Observer

For your convenience, Mother Jones has created a chart of all the top Obama conspiracy theories.—Mother Jones

Top of Alty Utah

KUER profiles the marked differences between the Utahns running for Attorney General this election.—KUER

Q Salt Lake gathers a video of Romney awkwardly defending his LDS faith during a radio interview.—Q Salt Lake

KRCL hosted Democracy Now!’s Amy Goodman earlier this week in Salt Lake City as part of her The Silenced Majority tour.—RadioActive!

The SLC Vote Nobody campaign hopes you stay home on election day.—Salt Lake City Weekly

Rantosphere

A Salt Lake City investment banker who has lived abroad in Europe reflects on European healthcare versus American healthcare.

“In any system, it pays to be an educated consumer. You don’t always get what you deserve, you get what you demand. It does not mean that some people in government-run health systems don’t fall through the cracks. The real point is that there is a floor, in contrast to a system, like ours in the United States, where pre-existing conditions have precluded coverage, along with a cap on lifetime benefits. Recent legislation is supposed address these issues. The question is, will it remain or be repealed?”—Salt Lake City Weekly

The Long View 

Slate profiles embattled and excommunicated LDS historian D. Michael Quinn, looking at him crossing paths with then-LDS General Authority Boyd K. Packer, whom Quinn had to interview for a teaching job at Brigham Young University.

“When interviewing Quinn in ’76, Packer said, “I have a hard time with historians, because they idolize the truth. The truth is not uplifting.” That’s according to Quinn—my request to speak with Packer, whose health has badly deteriorated in recent years, was declined. But Packer certainly said similar things before larger audiences. In 1981, he gave an address to church educators called “The Mantle Is Far, Far Greater Than the Intellect,” which was organized around four “cautions.” The second of them is this: “There is a temptation for the writer or teacher of church history to want to tell everything, whether it is worthy or faith-promoting or not. Some things that are true are not very useful.’”—Slate