Apologies to anyone camping out in front of a store and skipping Thankgiving at home to buy something at a discount ... but doing so is a terrible idea.

Then again, Lori Davenport isn't sleeping outside a St. Petersburg Best Buy to get anything in particular, she's doing it for the feeling of "firstness."

For some reason, Best Buy didn't realize they're only encouraging this sort of thing and gave Davenport a free iPad—and not the psychological consult she really could use.

Tucson real-estate agents beware: Sharon Lin is not going to buy a house in Tucson.

The retired schoolteacher has made it clear, in a series of comments on Tucson Weekly stories that date back eight months, that she won’t be retiring to Tucson.

Lin’s most recent comment came in respose to the reelection of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and Congressman Raul Grijalva.

“Well, I certainly don't want to wake up every morning and read the news about these two while drinking my organic bird-friendly coffee,” Lin wrote. “I think I'll just visit the desert for a few weeks in the spring to catch the spring flowers and bird migration, but buy my house and just live somewhere else.”

It was the ninth time since April 10 that Lin has declared that she won’t buy a home here.

We’re not sure which is more amusing—Lin’s inability to stop not moving here, her reluctance to pay taxes even though she claims that both she and her husband have had long careers in the public sector and will be counting on government pensions to fund their retirement, or her concern that more be done—presumably with tax dollars—to protect the environment.

Occasional TW commenter RetroRV was the first to notice Lin's ongoing threats.

"Good Lord woman," RetroRV wrote on Sept. 29. "We get it. You're not gonna move here. So do it and stop whining about Tucson!"

Here’s a recap of Lin’s many promises not move to Tucson:

Re: “Luck and Fear”

We heard about the incident on Fox News about the rancher near Douglas being murdered. We saw the Governor going on TV and talking about asking the Federal Govt. for help. Since she's a Republican and Nepolitano and other federal govt. officials are saying the border isn't a problem, I bet she won't get it. The Governor mentioned that the AZ citizens will have to pay.

I been visiting AZ for many years. I always thought I wanted to retire there, and because AZ was so unique in so many ways I couldn't pin down exactly where I wanted to live. The last ten years I started focusing on

Last week, Mother Jones ran a piece on the GOP's return to D.C., which includes a plan by some to put to bed this crazy notion of global-warming science. Maybe immigrant scapegoats are no longer in vogue, and it's global-warming scientists who those tea-bagger Republicans can really get some mileage out of with their constituents.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), the incoming head of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has pledged to hold hearings on the "Politicization of Science," which will consist of a rehashing of the so-called ClimateGate "scandal." He's also called for greater oversight of the Environmental Protection Agency's coming regulations of greenhouse gases. With Issa in charge, the oversight committee will devote a good deal of time to hauling government and university climate scientists before Congress.

Hmmm... maybe activist and writer Derrick Jensen's call for a "deep green resistance" is sounding better and better all the time.

This isn’t happening until next week, but I thought I’d give everyone a chance to run out and buy all of Mike Huckabee’s children's books so he can sign them when he comes to town next Friday.

You should just be clawing your way out of the Thanksgiving tryptophan coma when Huckabee makes his appearance at 3 p.m., Friday, Nov. 26, at the Barnes and Noble at 5130 E. Broadway Blvd. He’ll be in town to promote his new children’s book Can’t Wait Till Christmas.

Spoiler alert: While the cover makes the book look like a waltz through Christmas glee, it's actually about the pitfalls of opening Christmas presents early. Why this topic is important to Huckabee remains a mystery, but a quick read through this book made me feel as if I had just been scolded by my mother, for whatever that's worth.

You need a wristband to get in to see Huckabee. Those wristbands will be available at the Barnes and Noble starting at 9 a.m. on the day of the event.

There have been a few rumors floating around lately about Joe Scordato’s restaurant Guiseppe’s Ristorante Italiano at 6060 N. Oracle Road. Those rumors — some of which were posted as a comment on this blog—implied that Joe Scordato had sold the restaurant, that the menus had been changed and that something strange and, well, sort of deceitful was afoot.

So we called Joe Scordato today. He was more than happy to talk with us about the restaurant, which he said he has not sold and which has not changed since he brought in long-time friend and employee Israel Velderrain to handle day-to-day operations.

Scordato said Guiseppe’s business plan never included him working 100 hours a week in the kitchen, which is what he’s been doing since opening in March. His original business partner walked away just months in, leaving Scordato with little choice but to work double-time to keep the place running.

“The restaurant wasn’t even my idea. I was approached by two guys, and I told them I was too tired and too old to be in the restaurant business,” said Scordato. “They said they wanted to run it, but wanted help with the recipes and concept.”

So now, with the restaurant a bona fide success, Scordato is handing more control over to the employees and letting the cooks do the cooking. He hopes to “phase himself” out as much as possible to redefine his role as more managerial and less marathon kitchen employee.

“This is my restaurant. It’s just that I’m a physically old man, and I can’t handle being there every minute of every day,” said Scordato, adding that his former hobbies of motorcycle racing and boxing resulted in more than a few broken bones over the years. “But Guiseppe's isn’t me. It’s my recipes, my idea, my concept, but it doesn’t mean that I have to execute every minute of it.”

Scordato also pointed out that while his brother, Daniel Scordato, is certainly behind the popular restaurant Vivace, he does none of the actual cooking. Yet the restaurant remains his because his concept, recipes and experience are undoubtedly what defines it.

For the time being, Scordato has been questioning regular customers to ensure his recipes are being executed properly and otherwise keeping things in line. He says he’s spent the better part of the last month training Velderrain, and that he’s still at the restaurant nearly every other day.

“I have to make sure it’s good, and I got to know because I gotta go in and kick some but if it isn’t,” Scordato said.

Here is where I get embarrassed for even having to mention something as trivial as this is about to be, but, alas, I must. Apparently this whole runaway rumor was sparked when someone noticed the braciole had been taken off the menu. A diner noticed this, asked a bartender about it and was told that the dish was taken off the menu when the restaurant changed hands.

None of this is true. The braciole was taken off the menu because it wasn’t selling and because it takes five hours to make.

“If I were to take you step for step making braciole, you would say I was insane to make it,” said Scordato while describing the arduous process he uses to make the dish. “It was the poorest-selling item on the menu, which I couldn’t understand. I got sick of making a ton of it and sending it home with the employees at the end of the night, so I took it off the menu.”

From the Arizona Capitol Times:

There seems to be only one topic of conversation at the Capitol right now: Is Russell Pearce already breaking the promise he made to win the contest for Senate president last week?

There seem to be differing opinions on what, exactly, Pearce vowed, which in turn colors the debate on whether he is going back on his word.

The biggest fear some Republican lawmakers had about a Pearce-led Senate was that he would use the powers of the office to push controversial anti-illegal-immigration measures through the Legislature in the upcoming term, rather than focus his efforts on legislation aimed at turning the state’s ailing economy around ...

He is now telling reporters that he never promised the 14th Amendment bills wouldn’t be heard, only that he wouldn’t sponsor it. Instead, Rep. John Kavanagh will take the lead on the measure when the legislative session begins in January, and Pearce says he will do everything in his power to make sure it passes.

That is causing angst among many Republicans in the Senate, including some who clearly took his pledge to heart.

"What he's committed to me was [the "anchor baby" legislation] wasn't going to be dealt with in the first session and that we're going to focus on the economy and jobs," Sen. Frank Antenori, a Tucson Republican, told one of my colleagues this week. "That was the deal. I'd hate to be disappointed by Russell if he gets behind an effort to push that bill through without doing the reforms we have to do on the economy and creating jobs."

Antenori and others fear that any attempt to deny citizenship to children of illegal immigrants will suck the air out of any effort to jump-start the economy. They’re probably right.

With all the attention already on Arizona because of SB1070, the rest of the nation has already trained its eyes on our state. As soon as Kavanagh’s bill is introduced, Arizona will once again be in national headlines and, if the bill advances in the Legislature, a tremendous amount of energy will be spent both pushing the bill and trying to kill it. That means less attention will be paid to a jobs bill.

The holiday gift-giving season is almost here, so naturally, there are a number of big video games hitting the market in the next few weeks.

Sure there's Fallout, a newish Halo game, Rock Band 3 for music nerds, but clearly, the highlight circled on everyone's video game release calendar is Left Behind 3: Rise of the Antichrist.

Thankfully, we're passing on to you, loyal Range reader, the opportunity to try this game before you can even buy it. By that, we mean that we found a press release for a demo event, thought it seemed funny, and decided to post it.

We are announcing the launch of our newest PC real-time strategy game, LEFT BEHIND 3: rise of the Antichrist, based on the best selling LEFT BEHIND book series created by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins. Join the ultimate fight of Good versus Evil, commanding the Tribulation Forces, the Global Community Peacekeepers and the American Militia! This event includes 4 tutorials, 9 multiplayer maps, internet and LAN play for up to 8 players simultaneously.

If you are interested in signing up to participate in this event, please fill out the registration form and then click on the "Register" button. In order to participate, you must register no later than Nov. 17, 2010.

After successful registration, you will shortly receive instructions, an exclusive serial code, and a link to download and install the game on your computer.

If you end up playing, let us know how the game is. I've always wanted to be a part of the "American Militia," but I don't really like guns or leaving my house, so this could be a great opportunity to live out my dreams.

Apparently, the Canadian answer to Jersey Shore hasn't found a full-time television home yet, but I will say this: The very existence of this trailer makes me feel a whole lot better about America.

Sure, that Snooki and the Situation are likely permanent American citizens might be a little embarrassing, but the United Nations of morons ofLake Shore make the American originals seem like MacArthur Fellowship winners. At very least, I don't recall J-Woww ever saying anything as wildly ignorant and offensive as Karolina's "I hate everybody equally. Especially Jewish people."

One thing I did learn from this abomination: I need to get myself a series of nicknames like Tommy Hollywood so I can spout off a series of "AKAs" when I meet new people.

On Mon, Nov 1, 2010 at 3:05 PM, Skip Dotson wrote:

I am surprised that someone could obtain a job such as you have with the obviously low intelligence you demonstrate in every piece of literary trash that you publish. You are never objective. You can only spout hate and promote corruption in government. You never print the truth.Rep. Grijalva is now an embarrassment to his own party as a congressman. He promoted publicly a boycott of Arizona at a time when upholding and speaking for HB 1070 would probably have insured his reelection. Something that neither you nor Rep Grijalva can grasp is that most Hispanics do not want illegal immigration and illegal drugs coming here from across our borders. He has been the most liberal member of the House and his constituants have awakened. We are not ready for his socialist voting record.

You obviously support his minority positions with all of the issues facing the nation at this time. You and Rep. Grijalva have, fortunately for the citizens of CD-7, picked the wrong side of the issues and will face defeat tomorrow. We do not all vote because of one issue. illegal immigration. The Hispanic population cannot all be fooled by the likes of Rep. Grijalva and his promoters like you. In a position such as yours, you have the opportunity to speak the truth and people will listen. When printing such trash talk such as you do, credibility is lost with your audience and you have unwittingly energized the base of the opposition party and changed the minds of the voters in Rep. Grijalvas party. Had you espoused Rep. Grijalva's virtues and attributes, such as speaking the truth and being positive about him, he might have had a chance, but he has not and could not run on his voting record. By printing such trash talk as you have done about Ruth McClung you are only showing your bias and losing credibility at the same time. The voters in CD 7 are infinitly smarter than you give them credit for and can see through your blatant attempts to demonize an obviously intelligent and articulate candidate. Again, you lose credibility and apparently are not intelligent enough to realize your mistake.

Skip, thanks for doing your patriotic duty of fanning the flames. In return, here is a video to continue to inspire you on Election Day: