News From Los Angeles, With a Touch of Celebrity

LOS ANGELES – Yes, the people I've met here this week are quite interested in parsing the president's statements about Iran. It's just that some of them have other things on their mind.

Showcased in national reports, Iran's parliament is hinting at legal action against opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, and President Obama spars with the press on whether or not his tough talk on violence in Iran was prompted by Republicans. "What do you think?" he answered, with a laugh that showed what he thought of the question. "I'm the President of the United States."

At times like this, the top of the network news is an easy call.

Still, on local LA stations, the headlines give way to a quick segue:

Will Chris Brown go to jail for assaulting his on-again, off-again pop star girlfriend Rihanna? He won't. And so the debate begins. Is five years' probation and six months of community service punishment enough or just another case of LA's celebrity justice?

Will Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa run for governor of California? He won't. Maybe he took a look at the latest Los Angeles Times poll, which shows his popularity taking a dive.

Switch back to the national news, and you'll hear about government-run stations in Iran trying to convince the public that protesters are under the spell of foreign masters, who ordered them to take to the streets.

But local stations are spending lots of time giving late-night sidekick Ed McMahon a proper sendoff. Flip to any channel and you can't miss a clip of him shouting: "Heeeeeere's Johnny!"

Reality intrudes in the neighborhood known as "Little Tehran," which saw weekend demonstrations of residents' solidarity with relatives and friends in Iran. The death of young "Neda" was a rallying cry.

On a sunny Tuesday afternoon, reality meets celebrity in Westwood, at a signature In-N-Out burger joint on the campus of UCLA.

Husband and wife Ian Belcher, 25, and Faeza Moghul, 28, brought their own healthier meal to share outside. Belcher is in his last year at UCLA, majoring in linguistics and studying Arabic and Farsi. They moved from the Bay Area, which they miss. "People are much more politically conscious," Moghul said.

The couple campaigned for Ron Paul in the last presidential election, and approve of President Obama's measured tone toward intervention in Iran. "Not to dismiss what's going on there," said Belcher, but if America's not going to criticize the elections in Egypt and Pakistan, Israel or Iraq, why should the country meddle in Iran?

The couple canceled a planned trip to Pakistan to visit members of Moghul's family because they didn't feel safe. "People have lost faith in the government," she said.

Moghul questioned the sincerity of politicians who wanted to bomb Iran "now caring so much" about voters there. All sides in the current debate, they said, are trying to push their agendas.

And just a few blocks over, hundreds of movie fans are standing in a line that stretches down the block, with one agenda in mind -- to catch a glimpse of Hollywood hunks Johnny Depp and Christian Bale at the night's premiere of "Public Enemies."

A creative director for an ad agency said she's interested in Obama's health-care plan but "today's not the time or the place." It's time "to talk about frivolous things." You go to an event like this "as an escape." Cindy wouldn't give her age. In LA? "Are you kidding?"

Jessica Carreiro didn't mind. Of course not. She's 18 and a volunteer for the Los Angeles Film Festival. She's interested in politics and is writing an opinion piece on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for LA Youth Magazine. She's excited about studying literary journalism at UC Irvine in the fall.

Her career plans? "I want to direct."

She's certainly in the right city for that.