Are you feeling cheated because you didn't get around to changing your voter registration to Democrat or Republican before the deadline to vote in Arizona's Feb. 5 presidential primary? Do you live out of state but wish you could vote for a Project White Candidate?

Here's your chance: You can vote online for the candidate who gets the Tucson Weekly's Readers' Nomination!

The winners of the Readers’ Endorsement will also appear in TW’s Jan. 31 issue, right alongside the winner of the TW Endorsement.

Here’s how it’s going to work: We’ve set up a new Web site, Project White House Polling Central Headquarters.

We’re beginning with a Primary Primary for both parties. Both the Democratic and Republican candidates have been split into five divisions. The top vote-getter in each division will advance to a final round to win the Tucson Weekly Readers’ Endorsement.

You can vote for one candidate in each division. We’ll be tracking IP addresses, so don’t try to stuff the ballot box. It’s one computer, one vote!

The deadline for the first round is noon on Tuesday, Jan. 22—two weeks before the Feb. 5 election day.

We’ll also have a daily poll asking questions about the presidential race.

Best of all, you can spread these polls yourself, provided you can get the code to work in your e-mail or Web site. You’ll see instructions when you cast your ballot.

Let the voting begin!

This is one of the better articles I've seen showing how Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are out of step when it comes to universal health care--even though they dance the dance.

Call me a pessimist, but I don't think any real universal health-care proposal is going to make it if either of these candidates win. And one damn sure won't if a Republican wins.

According to Michael Moore's newsletter, both Hillary and Obama receive large donations from health care corporations.

Lee Ewing from the Arizonans for Immigration Control called this morning to discuss a protest taking place tonight in front of the Tucson Unified School District about raaasa.

"Raaasa?" I asked. "I'm not sure what you mean. Can you tell me what Raaasa is?" 

"Raaaasa studies in our schools," he replied. 

It clicked. La Raza.

I didn't jump down his throat because he mispronounced the word or assume he was some bad old fart. He said he'd been living in Tucson for 12 years, so Spanish words can be difficult for those Southwest newbies. I remained kind. I thought about the Arizona Superintendent of Public Education Tom Horne, and wondered if Mr. Ewing  concerned the school district was buckling to Horne's criticism of Tucson schools for teaching ethnic-studies classes (Mexican-American and African-American). 

Horne had said he was concerned about ethnic chauvinism--that kids in these classes would think they were better than everyone else and have a stronger identity with their race and culture than the rest of their classmates. (At least that's how I interpret ethnic chauvinism). White people in the classic Western-civilization sense--we started it all, and we control it all--may be guilty of ethnic chauvinism, too. Although Horne didn't discuss history or humanities classes. 

I digress.

Mr. Ewing is protesting La Raza studies because the books used in the classes are "teaching subversion." He also mentioned they are full of left-wing socialist ideas that are preparing Mexican-American youth to occupy America and "kill the gringos." 

Arizonans for Immigration Control organized a committee that looked at books used in La Raza studies and concluded they need to be taken out of the classroom before kids got any more crazy Aztlan ideas in their head. 

The books that scare Ewing and his friends are mostly history books, many written by Latinos, such as Occupied America: A History of Chicanos, by Rodolfo Acuna. It was published in 1972 and is considered the definitive book on Mexican-American history. Another is The Mexican American Heritage by Carlos Jimenez, published in 1994, a history book that goes back to the Aztec, Toltec and Mayan civilizations and discusses how they influenced Mexican-American contributions to society. Sounds like a good read to me.

A third book of concern is Critical Race Theory by Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic, which discusses civil rights insights, and law and policy--for everyone.

There is a fourth book, but Mr. Ewing could only remember the word "pedagogy." 

"I don't know if you've ever heard this word before--pedagogy. It's a new word," Mr. Ewing said, or struggled to say. "But this is by some guy from South America, and it’s all about taking over the United States." 

Well, unfortunately, Mr. Ewing, "pedagogy" is not a new word. I think the gentleman who he was talking about from South America is Paulo Freire, an educator who works to inform teachers on how to help their students put pedagogy into action--critically thinking about their education, and coming into consciousness about their role as students in their world, their society, their community.

Pedagogy is good Mr. Ewing. In practice, it's how some people, hopefully in their youth rather than later in life, find their voice--as queer kids, Mexican kids, African-American kids, punk-skateboard kids, Goth Mexican-American kids--any identity out there. It's good for the soul and much healthier than committing suicide or killing everyone in your classroom. 

I think Mr. Ewing must have heard me breathe hard a few times, and then I asked him what these books have to do with immigration control. He told me about the whole Aztlan movement and how Mexicans have a plan to take over the United States. He said San Francisco State University and UC-Berkeley were bases for Aztlan, because the schools taught Raza theory. 

Mr. Ewing said he was hoping to talk to Jim Nintzel, who he said seems to get this stuff. While insulting me (and possibly Nintzel), he also heavily complimented the Tucson Weekly for its balanced coverage on these issues, even if we are left-leaning. 

Thanks Mr. Ewing, I think. Call again, and next time ,ask to leave a message for Jim Nintzel.

Just a suggestion, Mr. Ewing: Perhaps you should catch up on American history and read up on the Chicano movement that took place in the '60s and '70s. The movement, led by Oscar Zeta Acosta, is where the terms La Raza and Aztlan were born. 

Aztlan, in my opinion, boils down to a philosophy I heard my mother and her sisters discuss over coffee and cigarettes: "We didn't cross the border; the border crossed us."

A number of breaking news reports from Project White House:

Republican Sean "CF" Murphy has posted a new campaign ad blasting fellow GOP candidate Mitt Romney.

In related news: Project White House has launched a new YouTube channel that includes short campaign ads from several of the candidates. More to come later this week!

Finally: We all know you've been wondering: Where do I get my Project White House totebag, complete with the names of all 48 presidential candidates? My Sean "CF" Murphy bumper sticker? Yard signs, campaign buttons, T-shirts--it's all available at the Project White House gift shop!

Friday, Jan. 11, was the deadline for Pima County to hand over the election-database files that the Board of Supervisors voted to turn over at the drama-filled Jan. 8 supes meeting.

The best decision the board made that morning--no matter your opinion on this public-records case--was not to hold the discussion and vote on the Pima County Democratic Party lawsuit appeal in executive session. The week prior to the meeting, the Pima County Web site listed the lawsuit topic under "executive session" on the meeting agenda. 

Media coverage of the meeting focused on John Brakey shouting to let more people speak; he almost got himself kicked out. The result was 60 voices chanting in unison. But according to Jim March, who assisted Democratic Party attorney Bill Risner with the Demo lawsuit, getting the supes to vote on letting the Dems have all the files happened after March told the supes there was no security risk in giving the Dems all the files, rather than just one of each from the 2006 primary and general elections.

Once John Moffatt, Pima County's IT director, reluctantly agreed that was true, the supes unanimously voted to release all the 2006 general and primary files, as well as all of  the Regional Transportation Authority election files, according to March. 

Some election-integrity activists said they were worried the turnover wouldn't happen until the following week, and others were concerned the files would come from hard drives in the Elections Division office. Prior to the lawsuit, the Democrats had Judge Michael Miller lock a hard drive with all the database files in a courthouse vault. Risner told the county that's where they wanted to retrieve the files. 

Risner went so far as to write a letter to Pima County Attorney Chris Straub outlining a protocol the Democrats preferred in handling the transfer of the database files to maintain security. Risner and crew felt that Moffatt's plan to hand over the files was too risky. The county said it would use a sheriff's deputy escort to transfer the files from the Election Division office and then transfer the data onto county-owned used laptops. 

Risner told Straub the Dems preferred to download the data directly onto a new laptop they would provide straight from the store box, and they wanted to videotape the transfer, even though Moffatt said no cameras would be allowed. 

According to Risner, the transfer of the files happened exactly as the Democrats wanted on Friday, although they didn't leave the building until 10:30 p.m. that night. 

While the party waited for the files, the Democratic Party reached out to elections and database experts around the country to begin building a computer program that can run an analysis of the database files. Risner says you just can't eyeball the files; you need a computer to check the results. Once the program is completed and proves successful, it could potentially be posted on the Internet for other election-integrity activists around the country to download for their own database analysis. 

Risner says the program will have to be Diebold-specific, but most elections offices throughout the U.S. use Diebold systems in any case. 

So, the fight for access to public records is over, right? Well, no. Risner says they are going to request the remaining election files that go all the way back to 1996. 

"They're all public records," Risner says. "And we want them."

In Marana, the end of 2007 welcomed new development--along with some heavy-duty criticism from local desert protection activists. 

Last week, the Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection issued a press release calling attention to a 300-unit development approved by Marana that would destroy some prime desert on the Hardy Wash. The project is called DeAnza, and contradicts the habitat-conservation planning the city of Marana is currently working on, according to Carolyn Campbell, executive director of the coalition.

Almost 500 signatures were given to the city in December from citizens challenging the Marana Council's vote to approve the rezone supporting the development.

"This development destroys 70 percent of the land in and around a very sensitive area, identified in the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan as an Important Riparian Area. The Town Council has a stated policy requiring rezonings in the Tortolita Fan to protect 70 percent of project sites as natural undisturbed open space, which is essentially reversed on this development," Campbell stated the in the release. "Marana should consistently implement conservation and smart growth tenets and require proper protection for natural areas."

Marana residents are also concerned about the development. Carolyn Nessinger, a resident of subdivision directly south of DeAnza, filed the referendum. Nessinger worries that "the increase in traffic created by all these new houses was not taken into consideration by Marana. Cortaro Road is a nightmare and this development, as currently planned, will only add to the problems."

Marana is developing a Habitat Conservation Plan, an example of which is the county's Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan. "DeAnza is a perfect example of the disconnect between Marana's regional conservation goals, and current land use decisions being made by the Town," stated Campbell.

According the Campbell's release, the Coalition has been in talks with the developers of the DeAnza project since filing the referendum. Progress is being made on reconfiguration of the project that would better protect the riparian area and contribute to wildlife movement within the Tortolita Fan.

"It is unfortunate that collaboration is taking place after the rezoning process. The Town Council could have directed staff and the developer to address our issues, but failed to take a leadership role," Campbell stated.

KUAZ radio, found at 89.1 FM and 1550 AM on your radio dial, will be carrying Gov. Janet Napolitano's State of the State speech with a special report beginning at 1 p.m. today. Reporter Christopher Conover has invited me to join him for pre-speech preview of the legislative session, as well as some post-speech analysis of what Napolitano had to say.

KUAT-TV on Channel 6 will also carry the speech live. The precise time depends on when Napolitano takes the stage, which is likely to be around 1:20 p.m.

Conover and I will be on Arizona Illustrated to talk about the upcoming legislative session with anchor Bill Buckmaster later tonight. The newsmagazine airs 6:30 p.m. and midnight on Channel 6.

Big news for Project White House: The Tucson Weekly is teaming up with Access Tucson to sponsor a televised debate among Project White House candidates!

Tucson Weekly Senior Writer Jim Nintzel will moderate the one-hour Tucson Weekly/Access Tucson/Project White House Dark Horse Presidential Candidate Debate, which will be broadcast live from Access Tucson studios at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 23 on Channel 99 on the Cox Cable system and Channel 74 on the Comcast Cable system. The program will repeat in the two weeks before Arizona Feb. 5 presidential primary.

But here’s the catch: Only two candidates from each party will be part of the Tucson Weekly/Access Tucson/Project White House Dark Horse Presidential Candidate Debate. So that means that Project White House candidates will have to compete over the next two weeks for a spot in the debate. Our third Project White House challenge will be issued later today.

And where do you, the average citizen, come in? We’re giving you an opportunity to ask questions for the candidates. Here’s how it works: Post a short video of yourself asking a question on YouTube and, if it makes the cut, you'll become part of the debate!

Here are a few events that were received past the deadline for our Jan. 10 issue. We recommend calling to check on last minute changes in location, price, time, etc.

• Thursday, Jan. 10 at 5 p.m.

  Tucson Marriott University Park Hotel

  880 E. Second St.

  Teacher Recruitment Fair. The American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence is hosting a fair for professionals who want to teach in a charter school in Tucson. Free. Visit www.abcte.org for information.

• Tuesday, Jan. 15 from 7 to 9 p.m.

  Barrio Brewing Company

  800 E. 16th St.

  17th Street Band. The band performs to benefit KXCI Radio. $5 donation at the door.

• Tuesday, Jan. 15 at 7:30 p.m.

  St. Mark's Church

  3809 E. Third St.

  Tucson Organic Gardeners. The monthly meeting's topic will be water harvesting. At 7 p.m., shop, browse free literature and enjoy refreshments. Call 670-9158 or visit iwhome.com/nonprofits/TOG for information.

• Wednesday, Jan. 16 from 6 to 7:30 p.m.

  The Berger Performing Arts Center

  1200 W. Speedway Blvd.

  Theater Auditions. The Arizona Rose Theatre Company will hold open auditions for an upcoming production of Robin Hood. Bring a prepared monologe and vocal selection (a cappella). Call 888-0509 or visit www.arizonarose.cc for information.

Another fine issue of the Weekly is online and ready for you to devour. Feel free to comment on its contents here!