Even as the L.A. City Council is debating a host of new regulations and restrictions for medical marijuana dispensaries, there’s a small space of L.A. that seems to have already figured out how to coexist with medial pot. West Hollywood has clamped down on its dispensaries and all interested parties, from residents to the cops and pot activists, seem content. Can L.A. learn how to manage its pot from WeHo?

Another approach to managing pot dispensaries in L.A. is to impose a new set of taxes on them, and to treat them just like any other business operating within city limits. Could this be a simple solution to L.A.’s wild west mentality on medical marijuana?

John Abizaid, George W. Casey Jr., Peter Chiarelli and David Petraeus all have one thing in common: Besides all beginning their Army careers in the 1970’s, after Vietnam, all four men have been generals during the quagmire that is Iraq. Greg Jaffe illustrates the transformation of the Army in Iraq, through the profiles of the four generals, whose decisions changed the course of history forever.

For almost the past 50 years the global economy has had a pretty simple rhythm to it: developing and manufacturing countries produce tempting good for Western markets, from electronics to clothing, and American consumers spend like crazy to buy it. But the global economic crisis is threatening to rebalance the flow of good and spending, especially if President Obama has anything to do with it. He’s in Asia right now warning anyone who will listen that America plans to save more, spend less and export more. Can a “rebalancing” of the global economy work?

She’s on Oprah today, her book comes out tomorrow and she’s been the darling of political consultants for the past year. Just when you thought you had enough of Sarah Palin, the next wave of Palin-mania is coming and expect it to stay around until 2012. With the possibility to either galvanize or divide the GOP, depending on who you ask, Palin might turn out to be one of the most fascinating political figures of the past 20 years. Is she all hype or will she prove to be a major player?

Doomsday scenarios predict the world will end on December 21, 2012, citing the Maya Long Count calendar's cycle-ending date. But does that represent an end of an age, or a new beginning? We give some perspective to the rampant sensational theories with a student of 2012 and a skeptic of the phenomenon.