Do you have a valid driver’s license? Are you attentive enough when you drive to identify traffic congestion due to construction projects? Are you comfortable telling construction workers to hurry the heck up in 110+ degree heat, without regard to life or limb? (People kinda get grouchy when it’s hot.)

Then the City of Phoenix has a job for you. For a mesely $160,000 a year, the City will pay you to drive around town and get right in the middle of construction caused traffic jams.

After scores of citizen complaints about congestion, Phoenix is moving to hire a “streets czar” to coordinate traffic projects around town.

Known officially as the deputy street transportation director, the czar will oversee every use of the public right of way, including maintenance, utility work, street widening and special events. The position pays $160,644.

The City Council recommended approval of the position this week during a policy session.

When hired, the czar will also manage two chief construction inspectors, another new position designed to alleviate construction burdens. They’ll travel along the light rail line looking for problems, ensuring as free a flow of traffic as possible.

I’d like to make $77/hour just to drive around town. I can tell people to STFU and get to work. Maybe I should get my resume ready. Hmmm.

There are days where I wonder what the hell my fellow Republicans are thinking.

Today is one of those days.

Senator McCain was successful in limiting my First Amendment right to support a political candidate or political position through his so called ‘Campaign Finance Reform’. He touted the bill as a way to clean up politics, get the special interests out blah blah blah (the same special interests he’s now embracing in his run for the White House, but I digress). With such altruistic motives, there was no way that bill WASN’T going to pass.

Republicans back here in Arizona took notice, and are aiming to do the same thing. But this time, they’re looking to the classroom. Republicans in the state legislature, under the guise of protecting our children from political indoctrination in the classroom, have introduced a bill that would punish educators for expressing politcal opinions. It’s for the children!

Classrooms should not be forums for schoolteachers and college professors to espouse political opinions, a group of lawmakers concluded Thursday.

A proposed law would prohibit any instructor in a public school or college from advocating or opposing a political candidate or one side of a social, political or cultural issue that is part of a partisan debate.

Supporters said the measure would let students disagree with instructors without fearing retribution. But college students and education advocates worry it would discourage instructors from leading discussions and debates on controversial topics.

Well this should make those Poli Sci and Economics classes rather useless, don’t you think? Even some of the brilliant Economics professors I had would have a difficult time not expressing an opinion on certain economic policies that are part of a partisan debate. We would’ve had to skip the entire discussion on the Laffer Curve and Supply Side Economics. Kinda important to the study of Economics. What would my tuition be paying for then? Stimilating discussions of the history of the dollar bill?

I can certainly understand the desire to ensure students aren’t punished for having a right of center point of view, when their proffessors offer up these little gems in class:

Troy Hyde’s ears perked up in a college class when his professor called President Bush an idiot, and he was stunned when another professor said suicide bombers are reasonable people.

But what is the purpose of the education system if not to prepare kids for real life? How is limiting an instructor’s First Amendment right to speak freely and openly about hot button political issues going to prepare my son for dealing with people he disagrees with outside of the academic setting?

I’m sure there are instructors who punish students with strong opposing opinions, but you know what? That’s life. Every day out in the real world, we are held accountable for the things we say and the things we believe. Sometimes we’re even punished for it - whether it’s passed up for a promotion, dumped by a moonbat for not agreeing Bushie’s the lefty equivalent of the Antichrist, whatever. That’s reality. Kids need to learn how to deal with it, not be sheltered from it.

And don’t even try to go down the indoctrination road with me. I know all about indoctrination - I’m a product of the California public school system. When I emerged from that education system I was so open minded my brains were falling out. Now that I’m not such a moonbat, I make sure the values and the things I believe are taught and reinforced at home. My son will be well armed against teachers who try to shove their opposing political opinions down his throat. I am responsible for preparing my son for that. Not you, not his school or his teachers and certainly not some state legislator.

Now if the Republicans in the legislature could kindly stop trying to mimic Senator McCain by restricting First Amendment rights and playing nanny to my son, I’d appreciate it. Thanks.

No, it’s not The Prom Queen’s minimum wage proposal - it’s a Do Not Call list for political campaigns.

One evening last election cycle, I received 6 phone calls from JD Hayworth supporters in an hour. The calls were all recordings of important conservatives telling me why I should vote for JD The Windbag. They clearly didn’t give a hoot about interrupting my dinner - just that The Windbag get my vote.

I’m a pleasant gal on the phone. I’m never rude to the poor call center folks, they’re just doing thier jobs. But by the time Rudy called twice I was getting a tad bitchy. Especially since I’d planned on voting for JD anyway - calling me endlessly doesn’t do any good, it just annoys me. It’s not like I can vote harder and make it count more.

Hmmm, I wonder if this had anything to do with The Windbag’s loss. Someone should look in to that.

There’s an odd stench wafting from the general direction of the ASU campus. I mean there usually is, it’s ASU (Go Wildcats!). Today, it’s absolutely wretched. It just stinks.

Oh, that’s why.

Um, not quite.

Remember those big immigration marches back in April? Well, organizers vowed to register 1,000,000 new Latino voters nationwide, using those marches as a launching point for their national campaign. They didn’t quite get there.

Nationally, organizers set a goal of registering 1 million new Latino voters by 2008, but to date have registered 146,000.

As a result, a vast Latino voter turnout that organizers hoped would send a message to political leaders on Nov. 7 probably won’t happen.

With a success rate of 14%, I’d qualify this as a failure, wouldn’t you? The spin on this failure is all over the place. Most are trying to blame the loss of momentum following the marches. Some are even trying to blame the ILLEGAL immigrants who participated in the marches.

The movement weakened, Espinoza said, because many who participated in the marches were undocumented and aren’t eligible to vote.

Wow. With a failure of this magnitude, sure must’ve been a lot of ILLEGALS at those marches.

Isn’t that just classic lefty? Blame your failure on those for whom you advocate. Glad to see nothing’s changed much since I’ve been away.

SCOTUS smacked down the 9th Circuit again - this time over turning the stay on Arizona’s photo ID rules for the November 7th election.

“The facts in these cases are hotly contested and ‘no bright line separates permissible election-related regulation from unconstitutional infringements,’ ” the Justices wrote. “Given the imminence of the election and the inadequate time to resolve the factual disputes, our action today shall of necessity allow the election to proceed without an injunction suspending the voter identification rules.”

Good guys - 1, ACLU whackjobs - 0

The Arizona Attorney General will be appealing the 9th Circuit’s stay on Arizona’s voter-ID rules.

I sure hope SCOTUS agrees to hear his appeal. Keep your fingers crossed.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has blocked enforcement of Arizona’s new voter ID laws. Just in time for the November 7th elections.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court Appeals without comment granted a motion by critics of the law for an injunction that bars enforcement of the law’s voter identification requirements during the Nov. 7 general election.

It also bars enforcement of a requirement that people produce specified proof of citizenship to register to vote. The deadline to register to vote in the general election is midnight Monday.

Critics of this law (Oh look, the ACLU is a plaintiff. Why am I not surprised) have used the usual arguments to get this law thrown out - disenfranchisement, unfair to minorities and old people. Yadda yadda yadda, blah blah blah. What the critics fail to tell you, of course, is what is accepted as identification for purposes of voting.

Here’s what is considered valid identification allowing you to vote on a normal ballot at the polls:

Acceptable forms of identification with photograph, name, and address of the elector

* Valid Arizona driver license
* Valid Arizona nonoperating identification license
* Tribal enrollment card or other form of tribal identification
* Valid United States federal, state, or local government issued identification

An identification is “valid” unless it can be determined on its face that it has expired.

Acceptable forms of identification without a photograph that bear the name and address of the elector (two required)

* Utility bill of the elector that is dated within ninety days of the date of the election. A utility bill may be for electric, gas, water, solid waste, sewer, telephone, cellular phone, or cable television
* Bank or credit union statement that is dated within ninety days of the date of the election
* Valid Arizona Vehicle Registration
* Indian census card
* Property tax statement of the elector’s residence
* Tribal enrollment card or other form of tribal identification
* Recorder’s Certificate
* Valid United States federal, state, or local government issued identification, including a voter registration card issued by the county recorder

An identification is “valid” unless it can be determined on its face that it has expired.

I challenge anyone to show me a human functioning in today’s society without any of the above.

If you’re an old person, you need to cash your Social Security checks, right? Need photo ID to do that, or if it’s direct deposited, you’ll have a bank statement. And if you’re voting, you’ll have registered to vote, so you’ll have a voter registration card. And if you’re a minority….well no one’s going to deny you utility service or a state issued ID because you are one. It’s so easy, even a caveman can do it.

If you don’t have ID on election day, you can still cast a provisional ballot, and return to the elections office with your valid ID to have your vote counted. I fail to see how this violates anyone’s civil rights, or the constitution. I’m sure the 9th Circuit will find something though.

For the first official, real blog post of Raising Farrahzona (content wise anyway), I feel like I need to apologize. I’ve done a terrible disservice to the country and I need to right the wrong.

I, Farrah Whitworth-Rahn hereby apologize to my fellow citizens for voting for John McCain in 2004. Can you ever forgive me?

His latest attention whoring is proof this man should never be Commander in Chief, and I put him back in the position to run for it. Oh I know he’s a former POW and military war hero, and I’m sure someone’s going to issue a fatwa against me for saying this - but he just doesn’t understand the nature of the enemy we face in this day in age.

Senator McCain, a former prisoner of war in North Vietnam, knows torture firsthand and brings moral authority to the issue. Torture is wrong, he says. Anything that weakens international protections for detainees, “threatens US troops in this and future wars,” he said on Friday

How many of our troops captured in Iraq were treated according to the terms of the Geneva Convention? Were these soldiers? Or these? The monsters were fighting killed 3,000 civilians five years ago while the female prisoners in Abu Ghraib were Saddam’s responsibilty. “Torture” of Gitmo prisoners wasn’t an issue then. The current detainee polices of the US are not to the reason our soldiers are tortured and mutilated when they’re captured. Changing said policies now won’t stop it from happening either. Whackjob militant islamists could care less what are laws say - they want us dead. Telling them we’ll be nice to their brethren when captured isn’t going to stop that.

Failing to acknowledge makes me think McCain really doesn’t understand our enemy. I don’t want him in charge of protecting the homeland if he can’t understand those who wish to do it harm. War is not the same as it was forty years ago. The nature of the enemy and threat has changed since the Senator was a POW. If he was a POW today, he would be tortured, killed and his mutilated body put on display for the world to see. The Geneva Convention wouldn’t save him. Why doesn’t he get this?

I realize Senator McCain is running for President, and trying to appeal to the “moderates” of both parties. But he’d be wise to remember it’s not the moderates who vote in primaries. It’s the base. If he continues to demonstrate he’d prefer to attention whore and get his 15 minutes of fame on the nightly news, rather than actually protect the country, this member of the base will be voting for someone else.