Have you heard all the chatter about the new look of DC Comics’ Wonder Woman?  Of course you haven’t.  You don’t have time for that, so I’m here for you.  Up at all hours, two insomniac boy children chiming in my ear and twirling like tops, Hubby plugged in to a hissing Darth Vader breathmask dreaming deeply through his newfound oxygen high about all the transfat foods he will eat when I die.  I’m all prayed out, so I can bring you the 411 on such things.

My initial reaction to the change in WW’s new look was: You know it’s the End Times when even Wonder Woman no longer has time to do her hair. But, do you think I am projecting?  I mean, I don’t think I’ve had time to really “do” my hair as society expects of a woman since, um, circa 1999. And secretly (and now, I guess, publicly) I don’t really care.  Maybe that’s why some of Hub’s recent new pet names for me have included “Medusa” and “Swamp Thing.”  I’m not sure.  We’ll take that up at our next monthly State of Our Union date night.

Here are some others’ reactions to WW remixed:

--DC Comics Starves Wonder Woman, Then Drags Her To Hot Topic

--If instead of the choker she had like a chunky H&M necklace I think this would be kind of perfect, though I guess I don't know why, exactly. She looks a little more ready to kick a**?

--Camille Paglia warned us about the prevalence of "The Yoga Look", now didn't she? "Desexualized, Sterile Athleticism"

--I know Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman was my childhood hero. I was Wonder Woman for Halloween at age 5. And you, skinny hipster goth chick on the right, are no Wonder Woman.

--Princess Coldstare has no time to hit anybody. She's too busy negotiating her deal to become Smirnoff ICE's new gapemodel.

--Why does the new version look so stuck in the 90s? I haven't seen chokers in 4-EVA.

--I can't get past the jeggings.

Yah, I mingle with some pretty opinionated snarks.  They don’t know but for MN Nice.  When you start talking about a cartoon at 3 in the morning you may not at first realize you are entering into discussions of feminism, haute couture, patriarchal hegemony, the deconstruction of art, historical iconography, consumerism and…jeggings.

Personally I really just miss the wholesome Lynda Carter/Diana Prince Wonder Woman of TV. Sure, she was a shill for the 1970s radical feminist agenda, but at least she had a warm smile and some curves.  You could imagine her being a mom.

I guess I have nothing more to say except, get your sleep, forget your hair, and go back to praying.

Can’t make the rent in this tough economy?  Would you like to live in this picture?

I don’t know how I missed this  week, but thank goodness for Joan Carter’s Daily Kos piece
that linked to it yesterday.

Apparently in Minnesota—and in a few other “forward thinking” states like Arkansas and Arizona the spirit of the debtor’s prison is back.  Can you believe we are in such good political company? Yah, me neither. 

According to the STrib, Richfield woman Joy Uhlmeyer was picked up in a squad, booked, fingerprinted and held overnight in Anoka County jail this past Easter for defaulting on credit card payments. And she is one among many.

(I wonder what kind of violent crime goes down, by the way, while local law enforcement officers are busy cuffing and transporting the unemployed or financially-struggling people who can’t make the Visa payment in my neighborhood? Huh).

The STrib reported
It's not a crime to owe money, and debtors' prisons were abolished in the United States in the 19th century. But people are routinely being thrown in jail for failing to pay debts. In Minnesota, which has some of the most creditor-friendly laws in the country, the use of arrest warrants against debtors has jumped 60 percent over the past four years, with 845 cases in 2009… The laws allowing for the arrest of someone for an unpaid debt are not new. What is new is the rise of well-funded, aggressive and centralized collection firms, in many cases run by attorneys, that buy up unpaid debt and use the courts to collect.

Minnesota law allows creditors to have a warrant issued for a debtor’s arrest when the debtor has received a court judgement for unpaid bills (as little as $85 in some cases), but when the creditor has not received financial disclosure information and/or payment from the debtor.  In MN, approximately 1 in 6 folks who fit these guidelines is currently being hauled off to jail, but an accurate estimate is hard to make since no one is keeping statistics in any state on the number of debtors being arrested.

I don't curse, but really, what the..., Minnesota? Why are we are allowing regressive 19th century legislation that is so hellbent against the poor?

Historian Michael Katz of the University of Pennsylvania talked to Minnesota Public Radio about the historical significance and future possibilities of incarcerating the poor:
Katz says the idea behind the poorhouse was simple - discourage people from asking for help by forcing them to work for food and shelter… many people were at the poorhouse because they couldn't work.  The poorhouse was the most stigmatized of public institutions, and it's one we seem to want to forget. Maybe,that's why most historians have ignored the poorhouse. For some reason, it seems to offend our sensibilities - and our image of what this country was - so much, that we have suppressed it. [I] still see shadows of the poorhouse, and hear echoes of the thinking that created the poorhouse system.

Collections firms and credit agencies should be glad nice Minnesotans worked so hard to keep the Ramsey County Poor Farm on the National Register of Historical Places--it’s been maintained in great condition and may be open for business soon if laws like these continue.  I think with legislation like that proposed Tuesday by Senator Orrin Hatch (requiring welfare and unemployment beneficiaries to pass a drug test to qualify for programs under amendment 1885), we may soon feel more and more like we’re living in Dickensian England rather than 21st century America.

UPDATE: Daily Kos published an "Open Letter to Senator Franken about MN Debtor's Prisons" this afternoon.  Read it here.

The Cancellation Poem (By BluecollarSeuss)

Cancel Carly, cancel Jan, cancel tuna in a can

Cancel blogging, cancel tweets, cancel marinating meats

Cancel research, housework, rules

Cancel fixing things with tools

Cancel preschool and exercise

Cancel raining from the skies.