Another good reason to love living in Japan

Now imagine the same thing in real life, with one important wardrobe change....

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese police have arrested a 20-year-old man who attacked and robbed two people after they stared at his Winnie-the-Pooh costume, officials said on Tuesday.
Masayuki Ishikawa was hanging out on a Tokyo street corner after midnight last month while wearing the cuddly costume, accompanied by two friends dressed as a mouse and a panther, when he took offence at being stared at, police said.
"It's uncommon to see people dressed up like this, so the victims were watching them. Then the perpetrator came up and said 'What are you staring at?'" a police spokesman said.
Ishikawa and his friends beat up the two victims and stole $160 from them, the spokesman said, adding the group had apparently donned the unusual garb because they had run out of clean clothes.

Where else could this possibly happen? (Okay maybe Orlando or Anaheim, but this had no connection to Disney) I can just picture the guy in the Winnie-the-Pooh suit going all Travis Bickle. Imagine the humiliation in going to the police station to report that you just had you ass kicked and wallet taken by this guy:

(actual police sketch of the assailant)

Thinking with the wrong head

First of all, I'm pissed at John Edwards for staying the race when he knew this was out there and could detonate at any moment. He was my first choice among the Democrats (not that I get a choice, not being one of teh chosen people and all) so finding out that if he had won the primaries the world would be looking at four years of John McCain, just because he couldn't keep it in his pants really rankles.

I agree it shouldn't matter to the rest of the world what anyone does with their naughty bits-- consenting adults and all that--but anyone running for public office in the Excited States knows damn well that what should matter has nothing to do with what will matter. It not as if sexual impropriety hasn't become a political issue before.

Second, yes Elizabeth Edwards is a smart, classy woman - but she still let her husband run for office knowing this scandal was out there waiting to erupt. That is poor judgement IMHO, but not so poor that I wouldn't like to see her take her husband's old Senate seat.

Third, this is getting very little press outside the U.S., because the rest of the world realizes that it DOESN'T MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE TO ANYTHING. Edwards is not the nominee, he is not going to be on the ticket, he holds no office and has no role in the Obama campaign. Trying to paint this as bad for Obama is like trying to Rush Limbagh's oxycontin addiction as bad for McCain. They're on the same side, but that's about it. So let's just leave these private citizens alone to deal with their private lives at this point, OK?

From a purely tactical point of view, with any luck the whole kerfuffle will draw attention to McCain's previous infidelities. Because if John Edward's affair disqualifies him from the presidency, so should McCain's past behavior.

Basically, I agree with what Chet says over at the Vanity Press and he puts it better than I will, so go read his posting.