Ornamental Illness

Wisconsin’s “Verify the Recall,” a far-right wing group created for the sole purpose of trying to disprove the million signatures to recall Gov. Scott Walker and to mock the supposed fictitious signatures (Bart Simpson, Mickey Mouse et al) has instead made a mockery of themselves.

What appears to be running off Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nicholaus’s home computer’s server, an early 90s PC no doubt, the website is slow to load and never produces any worthwhile search results. Not only that, there is no obvious “search” button, which is a bit odd for the claims of it being a “searchable database.” This is more like a “waitable database.” I did try pressing “return” at the end of a word search in the various columns, but wouldn’t you know it, a search on Stan’s last name produced no results, even though he did sign the petition. Why didn’t I search on other things like my last name or my street or my zip code? Well, I did. It’s just that it kept grinding away and never ever produces a result, not even to tell me there are no results. Did I say the server is slow?

Come to think of it, this site is run by tea partiers, and they’re not known for their accurate spelling. Perhaps I should have searched on a misspelled version of Stan’s last name, maybe that would’ve given some results.

Fortunately, the site does have a help page, but it’s a pdf file! And a graphically challenged one at that! It’s right out of the graphic design humorist’s handbook of visual comedy. Aqua-green text bubbles litter the page with instructions pointing this-a-way and that-a-way with blue arrows pointing at various parts of the database, all explained in CENTER JUSTIFIED text!

I guess the good news is that those who wish to use this database for nefarious purposes will be unsuccessful. I have been attempting a Verify search on my computer for what seems like a couple hours now while I am working, however those that must rely on the 15-minute limit computers at the detention center library won’t have that convenience.

I’m not giving a link to the site here, but if you do search on “Verify the Recall” you will find the site, first by finding the main site, which will then direct you to the iverify site, which then makes you read some stuff and then enter the site, and then you have to agree to some more stuff like how you won’t use the search for nefarious purposes which is silly because you can’t use the site for ANYTHING, and then you enter deeper into the site.

Oh, and this is pathetic…Vicki McKenna (google her too, I’m not going to explain) just asked for donations over Twitter because they need a better server. Waaaaaah!

Go ask the Koch brothers, Vicki.