This is an odd problem.
My _POST['email'] variable is always set. But it is not visible to this function until I do a print_r($_POST) ; No matter where I do this in the file, even if it's within the 'if' clause, it causes my program to see the _POST array. Once I remove it, I fall into the else clause.
My code is simple:
function doUserAuth($db)
{
global $cookieDomain;
...