Required Reading for January 2011

• From Canadian Business, an essay examining economic inequality in Canada and the US. The piece attempts to answer the question: is this a new Gilded Age or the seed of class warfare? http://tinyurl.com/2f7g869
• To this day I can't decide whether the sports "news" (read: gossip) site Deadspin.com is genius or an indictment of our tabloid society. In case you're not familiar with the site, Deadspin broke the Brett Favre "Dong Shot" story as well as the Rex Ryan "Foot Fetish" story. Anyway, I can't help myself from visiting the site daily. And I promise you the comments that accompany each story are hands down the funniest thing you will read all day. GQ profiles Deadspin's current (and infamous) editor A.J. Daulerio, and asks some interesting questions about the future of sports journalism: http://www.gq.com/sports/profiles/201102/aj-daulerio-deadspin-brett-favre-story
• It's been a while since I've come across a Hitchens column. Therefore, I especially liked his evisceration of the movie The King's Speech in Slate. I've seen the movie, which is incredibly well acted. However, it's factual inaccuracy is exposed here. As always, I remain convinced Canada should be a republic. Off with their heads! http://www.slate.com/id/2282194/
• From London's Daily Telegraph: Did Egypt and Tunisia just usher in the new era of global food revolutions? http://tinyurl.com/6h3t2l2. The lesson: Go long grain futures?