Paypal Blocks Soldiers Angels Fund Raising

Note: I am late in getting this posted as I needed to calm down A LOT before writing about this.

As part of this year's Gun Blogger Fund Raising efforts to benefit Project Valour-IT, we are having a section of our fund raising raffle set up so you could buy raffle tickets on line. We included two very nice prizes, a Para GI 1911 pistol, and a $2,000 four day training session at Front Sight Academy. The pistol was purchased and donated by Kevin from The Smallest Minority, and the training was donated by Front sight Academy.

The on line ticket part of the raffle was set up and hosted by Soldiers Angels, the parent organization of Project Valour-IT. In the first three and a half days over a thousand dollars worth of tickets were sold on line. Then someone at Paypal decided to shut it down. They not only shut down the raffle ticket sales, they shut down ALL Paypal on line contributions to all areas of Soldiers Angels. Soldiers Angels had to remove the button to buy raffle tickets before Paypal would turn the account back on. Unfortunately Soldiers Angels was in the middle of a fund raising drive and it's anyone's guess just how much in donations they lost in the twelve hours that Paypal was refusing to accept donations for them.

It appears that they consider buying a raffle ticket where you might win a gun is the same thing as actually going to a FFL and buying a gun. What is actually going on is people are making a donation to Soldiers Angels and Project Valour-IT, and for every $10 they spend they get a raffle ticket that might win them a gun. That's quite a big difference.

From Kevin:

"So where does that leave us? Well, you can call Soldiers' Angels and do a transaction over the phone. During normal business hours (PST) you can call (626) 529-5114, or you can call their voicemail service any time at (615) 676-0239, leave them a callback number and they'll get back to you - probably the less expensive option, timewise. It's not as convenient as a mouse click, but it beats snail-mailing a check."

The bad news is it's a pain to have to do it this way, but the good news is that Paypal doesn't get a percentage of the money spent on tickets.

If you'd like to call Paypal and discuss why inter-species offspring should not be put in policy making decisions, or anything else along those lines, their Customer Service phone number is (402) 935-2050.

For Kevin's full post and a lot more information about this, it's here.

Update Here's the list so far of bloggers that are writing about this:

Maj. Chuck Zeigenfuss at From My Position, On the Way! - Paypal is asshats
Laughingwolf at Blackfive - Step Up for Valour-IT, Especially as PayPal Won't
Blackfive at Blackfive - Anti-gun PayPal Shuts Down Soldiers' Angels Contributions
BillT at Castle Argghhh! - How Innnnnteresting
Alan at Snarkybytes - Paypal: Anti-Gun
Sebastian at Snowflakes in Hell - PayPal's Gun Policies
Kahr40 at From the Barrel of a Gun - Paypal is anti-gun
Kevin S. at Brown Valley Kingdom - Paypal shows their ass
Albert A Rasch at The Rasch Outdoor Chronicles - It's About Time We Pushed Back!
Major C at A Major's Perspective - Important Information You Need to Know
SayUncle - PayPal: Fear of guns overrides helping soldiers
Tam at View from the Porch - Figures
Joe Huffman at The View from North Central Idaho - Quote of the Day--Kevin Baker
Phelps at The Everlasting Phelps - PayPal Hates Soldiers
Jim at The Travis McGee Reader - A current outrage
Morgan at My Two Cents Worth - Outrage via PayPal
Derek at The Packing Rat - Paypal = Bigots
Jennifer at In Jennifer's Head - PayPal and Guns
Pamibe - PayPal vs. Soldier's Angels
Firehand at Irons in the Fire - So PayPal is so anti-gun that they'll screw over Soldier's Angels
Musings of the Geek with a .45 - That's Quite Enough of PayPal
falfenix of Insert witty title here - Sometimes you just can't win
Some Soldier's Mom - PayPal is Anti-Gun
Stephanie's Blog - PayPal is Anti-Gun
Ride Fast and Shoot Straight - PayPal is an evil, eBay anti-gun minion
Caleb at Gun Nuts Media - PayPal cuts off donations to veteran’s charity group
Russell at Solarvoid - Gah, stupid Paypal
Sailorcurt of Captain of a Crew of One - Paypal and the Geek
US Citizen at Traction Control - PayPal is no Pal to Soldiers
Top of the Chain - Paypal = Bovine Fecal Material
Dirtcrashr at Anthroblogogy - Pay-Pooper is Not Your Pal
Linoge of Walls of the City - paypal sucks
Phil at Random Nuclear Strikes - Some People's Children
Hazmat at Thunder River Home - Gotta Love That PayPal
Evyl Robot Soapbox - Paypal is Anti?
The High Road - at least three threads

LuckyGunner.com to Sponsor Gun Blogger Rendezvous

I just got an email from Brian at LuckyGunner.com and not only is LuckyGunner going to help sponsor this year's Gun Blogger Rendezvous, Brian is also planning to attend in person! He says he's looking forward to hanging out with a bunch of fellow gun nuts!

If you are looking for ammo, be sure to have a look at their website. Unlike some places, if they list it on the site, they have it in stock. No worries about ordering something and having it end up as backordered, and your money tied up until the backorder is finally filled.

If you'd like to meet Brian in person, the Rendezvous is the place to be!

.... and Another Bunny Post

Here's a couple of bunny pictures to show how much he's grown:

This was the day after we started caring for the bunny. He was still pretty sick and we really didn't expect him to survive the night.

Here he is today. Check out those ears! He's going to be a BIG rabbit.

News & Updates of the Day........

I still haven't entirely got rid of the headache that's been with me since Saturday morning when I hit my head. Apparently it can take a week for it to totally go away when you get a concussion. It's not really very painful though, and I think it's a bit less each day.

I am really fortunate to have such a good dentist. He worked on my broken-off tooth a bit yesterday, and then worked more on it last night. It's now built back up to where it was, and you can't even tell it had been broken off. He did an amazing job!

The baby bunny is certainly no longer a baby. He (she?) must be three or four times heavier and bigger than when we first met him. His injured eye seems to be completely healed, and you can't even tell it was injured. We're still not sure how much eyesight he has in the injured eye, but he most definitely can see out of it. He's not very happy about the heat the last few days, but other than that seems to be a happy, healthy, and fast growing rabbit.

That's about it, news-wise, at least for now. It's hot, I'm tired, my head still hurts a bit, and I think it's time for bed.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

e-Postal Match Deadline Extended

Sailor Curt emailed me that so far there are only two entries in for this month's e-Postal match. Things do tend to rush up on you this time of the year and it's easy to miss the deadline for the e-Postal matches, so this month's match deadline has been extended to the end of the week.

Get those targets shot full of holes, photo'ed, and emailed in ASAP. To get the full info and to download the targets, Click either HERE!

Shooting With Bad Eyesight

Robin Taylor from Front sight magazine forwarded this email from "Bill" to me and asked me to answer regarding shooting and poor eyesight since my eyesight isn't t o good but I still manage to stay competitive:

"I am getting up in years (64) and a type 2 diabetic. I do not shoot pistols competitively but hunting and recreation. I have a nearsightedness problem which is corrected with 1.50 diopter lenses. I can see the sights very well with this lens but now the target is blurry."


Bill,

Being the same age as you, I know what you are dealing with when trying to shoot with aged eyes! My eyesight is significantly worse than yours, but I still manage to compete in pistol competition and be competitive.

There are several things to consider in seeking the best solution for your situation. If you are shooting with conventional sights, not having a really sharp view of the target is not too important. Hitting the center of a fuzzy target works just as well as if it wasn't fuzzy! The hard part is training yourself to ignore the fuzziness and pay attention only to the front sight, even if the rear sight is a bit fuzzy too. It can be tough since after taking a shot or two you naturally want to focus on the target to see how you are doing. Using reading glasses, if needed, to see the sights, can be a good solution.

Some shooters have had some success with having a special pair of glasses made where one eye can see the sights and one can see the target. Your brain manages to combine the input from both eyes and make it work. I've experimented with that, but it wasn't too successful. If my vision wasn't so bad perhaps that would have worked for me.

Another solution is to change to a different type of sight, such as the red dot sight. With red dot sights you keep both eyes open and your eyes focused on the target. The red dot that appears in the sight may be a bit fuzzy, but if you put the fuzzy red dot on the target you'll do just fine. This restricts your ability to carry a pistol concealed because of the additional size of the sight, but for recreational shooting this may be the solution for you. For longer range shooting the use of a scope combined with intermediate reading glasses works well for me.

Hopefully one of these suggestions will help you keep them all in the ten ring, or into the beer can, whatever the target may be!

...... Mr. C.

Kevin Imel For USPSA Director

If you are a member of USPSA and either throw your ballot away and don't vote, or are unsure which candidate would be the best choice, here's something to consider. The Steel Challenge Shooting Association, which is a division of USPSA, will have most of the decisions regarding how Steel Challenge will be run made by the USPSA directors. As a Steel Challenge competitor and a member of Steel Challenge Shooting Association, however, I don't get to vote on who those directors will be. Only USPSA members get to vote. Maybe someday Steel Challenge Shooting Association will have their own directors, but not at the present time. For the continued growth and success of both USPSA and Steel Challenge, it is important that the directors are the best people available and willing to take on the responsibility.

Kevin Imel between stages at the Eddy Brown Memorial Steel Challenge and Idaho State Steel Challenge Championships.

Both of the USPSA Area One candidates have written two articles in Front sight Magazine discussing their philosophies and goals concerning USPSA and Steel Challenge. I personally know both candidates, have shot matches with both, and have read their Front Sight Articles very carefully. Although they both have their strong points, I feel that Kevin Imel is the stronger of the two, and the best candidate for the job. Kevin has some great ideas, and would, in my opinion, be a great asset to the association.

Endorsing Kevin is entirely my idea, and Kevin didn't even know I was endorsing his candidacy until I told him. Good luck, Kevin!

Idaho State Steel Challenge Championship

Every year KeeWee and I head over to Idaho for the Eddy Brown Memorial Metal Match. It's one of the best run, and most fun matches we shoot.

The drive from Whidbey Island to Coeur D'Alene this year was not the best trip I've ever driven. The RV engine was over-heating, and when it started getting too hot it also would start to vapor-lock as the alcohol in the poor excuse for gasoline they now sell us was vaporizing. The overheating is most likely the radiator, as I've got a new thermostat (it over-heated with the old one, too) and a brand new water pump. Not much left except the radiator. I had to drive the whole way at between 62 and 65 mph. Bummer.

The new TomTom GPS navigator worked fine, except the battery went flat quickly as the cigarette lighter socket did not have power to it. The cigarette lighter fuse was OK, so it must be something else in the circuit either broken or mis-connected. Something else to fix next week, I guess.

Anyhow, we finally got to the range and got the RV parked for the night. The range was open for practice, so KeeWee and I shot the stages to see if everything was working OK, and it seemed to be. We turned in for the night, as the next day was going to be a long one.

Saturday morning before the shooter's meeting I managed to hit my forehead so hard on the forward cabover part of the RV that I briefly knocked myself out and came to on my knees face down in the passenger seat. I hit so hard I broke one of my front upper teeth in half, I couldn't get my eyes to focus, and I had a pretty good headache. Clearly a concussion.

We decided to go ahead anyway and keep a close eye on me in case my condition deteriorated. Fortunately it didn't. After about 30 minutes my vision started working and I could get my eyes to focus. I had a little trouble with short term memory all day. I'd go to the line and when I got there I'd forgotten the order I had decided to shoot the plates. A couple of times I started on the wrong plate until I re-figured it out!

To add to the fun, the new gun I had just built the week before was stove-piping on me fairly regularly. It was rushed together, and I hadn't had a chance to run it enough to be sure it was really reliable. Turns out it wasn't.

In spite of all that, we had a great time! As you know, if you want to shoot your fastest, you want to squad with other fast shooters. We were on the squad that probably had the most fun, instead.

I've got a bunch of pictures to post from the match. (I've also still got a bunch of pictures from the Washington State Steel Challenge Championships too. Just never seems to be enough time!)

In spite of all the strange things that happened, KeeWee ended up the top Rimfire Lady and 4th (I think) overall in rimfire. I missed the rimfire win by just 21/100 of a second, but second place is just fine as I easily could have ended up in an ambulance instead of at the match.

As soon as the trophy presentation was over, we hit the road for the long drive home, again and reduced speed. We stopped around 11pm at Ellensburg for some food and a few hours sleep, then finished the drive home on Sunday morning.

A big THANKS is in order to Bill Salzberg the match director, the volunteers, the sponsors, and a great bunch of folks to shoot with. This year we had somewhere around 95 entries.

Well done, Eddy Brown would be proud!

REMINDERZ

Here's some short reminders on stuff you don't want to miss out on:

e-Postal Match: This month's match is closing at midnight (your time) on July 28th. That's next Tuesday night, by my calendar! Get those targets shot full of holes, photo'ed, and emailed in ASAP. To get the full info and to download the targets, Click either HERE, HEER, HEAR, or HE-YAR, depending on the part of the country you are from.

Gun Blogger Rendezvous: It's sneaking up on us really fast, so get your registration and hotel accommodations taken care of right away. The hotel does not guarantee that they can give you the group rate if you get too close to the event date, so DO IT NOW! Go to the Gun Blogger Rendezvous Website for what you need to do.

Gun Blogger Rendezvous Online Raffle Ticket Sales: Two of the items in the Gun Blogger Rendezvous Raffle, a Para GI 1911 and a $2,000 4 day training session at Front Sight Academy, do not require you to be at the Rendezvous to win. (If you ARE at the Rondy, you have a chance at a lot more neat stuff, so be there if you can manage it, for sure!) You can buy tickets online at the Soldiers Angels/Project Valour-IT website for $10 a ticket, and the money goes to a VERY worthy cause. If you are attending the Rendezvous you can buy your tickets there in person.

Also, if you are anywhere near Coeur d'Alene, Idaho on Saturday, swing by the Fernan range (just up the valley a ways from Fernan Village, not far from Lake Coeur d'Alene) and meet Keewee and I in person at the Eddy Brown Memorial Metal Match, which is also the sanctioned Idaho State Steel Challenge Championships. Better yet, bring your handgun and join in on the fun. Maybe we'll see you there!

Until maybe Sunday then, "Over and Out!"

Gun Blogger Rendezvous Logo

It's taken me WAY too long to get this logo up so you can use it on blog sidebars to link to the Gun Blogger Rendezvous blogsite. Graphics/website wizard Rob Allen of Sharp As A Marble put this logo together for us a while back, along with a very cool new header for the Rendezvous blogsite. Thanks, Rob, beautiful job!

Unfortunately I haven't managed to get the new header into the GBR template in the right place where it would look right. Trial and error eventually gets me there in HTML, and eventually I'll figure it out.

Anyhow, here's the logo. The Gun Blogger Rendezvous URL is

http://gunbloggers.blogspot.com/

Some assembly required.......

KeeWee & Wabbit

If you haven't totally burned out on cute bunnies, go check out KeeWee's new wild bunny friend, "Wabbit" There's several pictures and the whole story of how a wild bunny "Adopted" KeeWee.

Gun Blogger Rondy - More "Who's Going"

I've been getting in a steady stream of registrations for the Gun Blogger Rendezvous, so here's a few more bloggers you will be able to meet in person if you go:

D.W. Drang of The Clue Meter

Miss Elain-eous of Bearcat's Spin

Azreel of Free Spirit Mind

John O'C. of the Gun Counter forum

Benjamin of The Reasonable Nut

For those of you who have included a donation to Project Valour-IT with you registration, we all thank you for your help, it's a very worthy cause.

BTW: Miss Elain-eous of Bearcat's Spin is just getting her blog up and running, so why not stop by and leave a comment of welcome?

June e-Postal Match Results are Posted

Here's the results for the June e-Postal match "Flying Aces". If you haven't given these fun matches a try yet, go to Sailor Curt's blog, download the target and rules, shoot it up, and send in pictures of your targets and your scores.

CLICK HERE to get all the info you need to get involved with these fun shooting challenges!

Goin' To Puyallup, Gonna Shoot Some Steel

Tomorrow morning bright (the day, not me in the morning) and early, Wayne, KeeWee, and I are heading South to the Paul Bunyan Club in Puyallup, Washington for one of the better fun steel matches around. Will runs a good match, the turnout is large, and the competition level is high.

If you are anywhere in the South Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, or outlying areas, come on over to Puyallup for some fun shooting. All levels of shooters are welcomed, including juniors, and no holster is required, unless, of course, you want to shoot in the draw class, then bring you holster. Show up at 9:30, bring plenty of ammo, and be prepared to have a fun day......

Great fun, come give it a try!

Cute Bunny Overload

It's amazing the extent to which people are following the progress of the bunny and my bunny wrangling efforts. His injured eye is almost completely healed and it looks pretty normal. He's eating almost constantly, grass, carrots, alfalfa, peas, lettuce, kale, and a bunch of other leafy vegetables that I don't even know what they are. He also likes leaves from the plum tree. He's almost doubled in size in three weeks. The tiny bunny that fit in the palm of my hand now fills both hands, and hangs over each end if he stretches out. His ears are also growing faster than the rest of his body.

Day before yesterday the temperature was approaching 90 degrees, even hotter in the house, and the bunny was not at all comfortable. In fact, I was getting worried about heat stroke so I took him downstairs where it was a lot cooler and he perked up a bit rather quickly. Since bunnies don't have wet noses, their only cooling is through their ears.

(All picture can be clicked for a larger view)

"Hot weather sucks...."

"Maybe if I stretch out it will be cooler"

"Maybe this position will be cooler?"

"OK, I've had it, turn down the $@&&**@!! temperature! Enough is enough!"

We've moved the bunny house to a cooler part of the house, and the temperature is cooler today, so he's a lot happier!

Gun Blogger Rendezvous Slide Show

True Blue Sam - The Travelin' Man has put together a YouTube slide show of pictures from previous Gun Blogger Rendezvous (Rendezvouses? Rendezvousles?) to give you an idea of what the GBR is all about.



It's enough to make me want to attend! No, wait, I'm already going......

How about you?

Eddy Brown Steel Challenge

Robin Taylor of Front Sight Magazine blazing away at last year's Eddy Brown Memorial Metal Match.

I got an email from Bill Sahlberg, the Match Director for the Eddy Brown Memorial Metal Match / Idaho Steel Challenge State Championships, and he mentioned that there has been a fairly light number of entries in rimfire for the match.

To encourage more rimfire shooters to join in the fun, Bill has decided to extend the "Early Bird" entry fee amount of $55 for rimfire up to the start of the match. After July 1st. all entry fees went up to $75, but Bill has rolled the rimfire entry fee back to the $55. If you were on the line about if you were going to go or not, here's one more incentive to go shoot in one of the best matches in the Northwest.

There is no cost primitive camping/RV space at the range, and there is a match motel not far away.

Below is the full info on the match, taken from the Steel Challenge web site:

---

2009 EDDY BROWN MEMORIAL METAL MATCH & 1st ANNUAL

IDAHO STATE STEEL CHALLENGE CHAMPIONSHIPS

On December 28, 2000 the man responsible for bringing the Steel Challenge Shooting event to Canada and the Northwest died of a massive heart attack at the age of 37 in his home in Cranbrook, BC. His name was Eddy Brown. The Gun Clubs and SPPL here in the Northwest, where Eddy had competed in the past, are holding the 9th Annual Eddy Brown Memorial Metal Match. This year we are combining this Match with the 1st Annual Idaho State Steel Challenge Championship Match.

The Match will be held on July 25-26 in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho at the beautiful Fernan Rod and Gun Club. (directions are at www.frgc.org)

My name is Bill Sahlberg and I am this year’s Match Director and the Prize Table Coordinator. The Match format is following the Steel Challenge format and is now an official “sanctioned” SCSA event and can be found at www.steelchallenge.com on their calendar of events.

Applications can be downloaded at www.sppl.us, go to calender and click on EBMMM. We are recognizing the following divisions, Open, Limited, Revolver, and .22LR. We also have 25+ plaques to award competitors on Saturday. Saturday includes a Roasted Pig lunch, awards, and a random draw prize table.

Sunday from 9AM-3PM will be \”Man on Man\” pistol shootoffs in both Limited and Open class and awards will be given to the Top 5 in each class. For more info email Bill at thesahlberg7@webtv.net.

---

Wanna Beyah Winnah? Buyah Ticket.....

Hey! Wanna Win One of THESE?
On Line Raffle Ticket Sales Now Open!

That's ParaUSA's new GI Expert entry-level 1911. The specs are:

Caliber: .45 ACP
Barrel: 5 inches, stainless steel
Twist: 1 in 16 inches, left-hand
Action: Single-action, Semi-automatic
Sights: Dovetail Fixed, 3-White Dot
Receiver: Carbon Steel
Trigger: Medium length
Hammer: Skeletonized Spur
Magazine: 8-round with removable base pad (two provided with pistol)
Overall Length: 8.5 inches
Height: 5.75 inches
Weight: 39 ounces
Finish: Covert Black Para Kote™
Stocks: Checkered Polymer
Safeties: Slide Lock, Internal Firing Block, Grip
Additional Features: Lowered and flared ejection port, beveled magazine well, flat mainspring housing, grip safety contoured for spur hammer
MSRP: $599

It looks like a good, solid piece with just enough enhancements to make it a great shooter.

Remember, THIS GUN WILL BE FIRED AT THE RENDEZVOUS. We'll try to clean it up a bit before we pass it on to the winner!

CLICK HERE TO BUY TICKETS
TICKET SALES ARE NOW OPEN!!

Soldier's Angels is running the on-line ticket sales ($10 each, no limit!), and there is also a chance to win a four day training course from the Front Sight Firearms Training Institute worth $2,000!

Raffle Details:

Drawing will be on Saturday evening, September 12th at the
Gun Blogger Rendezvous
at the Silver Legacy Hotel in Reno, Nevada.

The winner need not be present to win.
(But you ought to be anyway!)

It is up to the online raffle ticket purchaser to verify that they can legally receive and own this pistol where they live, and the winner must be a resident of the United States. If they cannot legally own this pistol, they are automatically disqualified from the raffle, and there is no substitution or other prize to be awarded. All decisions are final. Raffle tickets sold at the Rendezvous, and raffle tickets sold online will be combined in the drawing.

Important: To win a gun in the raffle, make sure you can legally own it before you buy a ticket.

On-Line ticket sales END on Friday Sept. 4th. at midnight!
If you want to win one of the many, many other prizes being given away, you either have to attend, or you'd better know someone who is! ;-)

Major kudos to Kevin Baker of The Smallest Minority and Kerby Smith of Para USA for their help in supporting the Gun Blogger Rendezvous and Project Valour-IT!

---

Note: The above post was shamelessly stolen from Kevin because:

1. I'm lazy
2. It's Hot
3. It's late
4. I have no shame......

Tractor Pull Explosion in Holland

Check out this tractor engine grenade-ing at a tractor pull in Holland:

Front Sight Donates Training to GBR-IV

I just got an e-Mail from Dr. Ignatius Piazza, founder and head guy from Front sight Firearms Training Institute, and he confirms that he will be donating a $2,000 dollar four day training course to the Gun Blogger Rendezvous for inclusion in our Project Valour-IT fund raising Raffle. For this we owe him a big "Thanks!"

I am trying to convince Dr. Piazza to try to attend at least part of the Gun Blogger Rendezvous so we can meet him in person and he can answer any questions we may have about his training programs. He sounds like an interesting guy and I'd like to meet him in person some day.

If you are planning on attending the Rendezvous and would also like to meet him in person, why not send him an email and let him know? info@frontsight.com is an email address he follows, so if enough of us ask, maybe we can pry him out of Las Vegas and get him to Reno for at least part of the Rendezvous? You never know.......

Yet Another Bunny Post

Bunny's injured eye looks almost healed up.

I'm sure some of you are sick of excessively cute bunny pictures, but you'd be surprised how many folks are following the bunny's recovery.

He's been eating like he's starving, and he's growing like crazy. He's clearly bigger and longer than he was a week ago. At first I figured he was a cottontail, but the way his ears are growing (scroll down a few posts and look at him a week ago) I think he's got some domestic rabbit somewhere in his background.

The above picture shows his injured eye, and it's amazing just how well it seems to have healed up. It looks like it still waters a bit, looking at the fur around and below his eye. There is also a small notch missing out of his upper eyelid, but that seems to have healed up pretty well, too.

When wild critters are injured and you try to help them to survive, the results are usually not good. So far we seem to have beaten the odds. We are still keeping our fingers crossed, however....

GBR-IV Partial Attendees List

The Gun Blogger Rendezvous is just eight weeks away, and some of you are still on the fence as to if you are going to attend or not. The Rendezvous is different from most events, as it is the attendees themselves that are the reason to attend.

Here's a partial list of the attendees for this year's Gun Blogger Rendezvous. I am SURE I've left some folks off, so if you are going and you're not on the list, leave me a comment and I'll get you on the list.

So who's going to be there, you ask?

Here's a partial list, and new names will be added as we get closer to the Rendezvous.

Planning to Attend:

KeeWee, from KeeWee's Corner

Phil & David, from Random Nuclear Strikes

US Citizen, from Traction Control

Ride Fast & the Commandress, from Ride Fast - Shoot Straight

Mr. & Mrs. JimmyB, the Conservative UAW Guy

Lou from Mad Gun

Derek from The Packing Rat

Rachel Parson from the NRA

D.W. Drang from The Clue Meter

EJ from Engineering Johnson

Cap'n Bob & Damsel

Alan Gura

Mark Knapp from Firearms Lawyer

Maj. Chuck Ziegenguss from From My Position - On the way and founder of Project Valour-IT.

Kevin from The Smallest Minority

Dirt Crashr, from Anthroblogogy

Chris & Mel Byrne, from The Anarchangel

Uncle, From Say Uncle

Larry Weeks, from Brownell's

Andy and Lance from HiCap Gun Works

and, of course, me.....

There are a number of folks hoping to be able to attend, but not sure either way quite yet. There is a possibility we may see our first attendees from the UK, as I've gotten a couple of emails regarding registering in Euros and so forth, so keep your fingers crossed. We might even see some folks from Holland, at least briefly, as there are a few coming over to Las Vegas for the USPSA Nationals being held the same weekend.

We've still got room for lots more folks, so get off your "Donkey-like creature" and get your registrations in ASAP. It's going to be the best GBR yet, and by a long ways, so you really will kick yourself if you don't go. More range time, warmer weather, Alan Gura, The NRA, National Shooting Sports Federation, All you can eat pizza feed, at least three guns to win, lots of door prizes, and plenty of things to do for the family members not quite so gung-ho for gun stuff.

There are even some more surprises coming up to be announced. I am waiting for confirmation, but there's a pretty good chance there's more neat stuff and a some big announcements yet to come!

SEE YOU IN RENO ! ! !

BTW: All bloggers automatically get press credentials. If you are from a newspaper, magazine, radio, or TV station, maybe, maybe not...........

Off To KRRC for Some Fun Steel

Saturday morning, 6:30am, it looks like it's going to be a beautiful day! Bunny is eating, and growing, like mad, and his eye is almost 100%. Not too sure how much vision he's hot in the injured eyes, but definitely some!

KeeWee and I are loading up out shootin' stuff and heading over to the Kitsap Rifle and Revolver Cluyb's range for one of John's most excellent fun steel matches. I even remembered to put the camera with the stuff, so maybe I'll get some good pictures.

More reports later..........

Hi-Point Donates New Carbine to Rendezvous

Charlie Brown, the head guy over at MKS Supply/Charter Arms/Hi-Point, has donated a brand new Hi-Point 9mm. carbine to the raffle at the Gun Blogger Rendezvous. The below picture is of the YET UN-ANNOUNCED new Hi-Point carbine! Official announcement will be around the end of the month, but Charlie has said that I can blog about it even before it is officially announced to the media.

The Brand New Hi-Point 9mm. Carbine.

I don't have a lot of information on the new carbine yet, but the primary difference is the new stock. The main mechanical parts are essentially the same (identical?) to the current 9mm. carbine.

Charlie did give me a little more advance info though, as after the 9mm. is rolled out, a .40 caliber version will not be too far behind. Even more exciting, though, is that they are looking into a version in .45ACP! How cool is that! I WANT ONE..............

President Out-Sourced to India

Washington, DC -- July 2nd, 2009

Congress today announced that the office of President of the United States of America will be outsourced to India as of September 1, 2009. The move is being made in order to save the President's $500,000 yearly salary, and also a record $750 billion in deficit expenditures and related overhead that his office has incurred during the last 3 months.

It is anticipated that $7 trillion can be saved to the end of the President's term. "We believe this is a wise financial move. The cost savings are huge," stated Congressman Thomas Reynolds (R-WA). "We cannot remain competitive on the world stage with the current level of cash outlay," Reynolds noted. Obama was informed by email this morning of his termination.

Preparations for the job move have been underway for some time. Gurvinder Singh, a tele-technician for Indus Teleservices, Mumbai,India, will assume the office of President as of September 1, 2009. Mr. Singh was born in the United States while his Indian parents were vacationing at Niagara Falls, NY, thus making him eligible for the position. He will receive a salary of $320 (USD) a month, but no health coverage or other benefits.

It is believed that Mr. Singh will be able to handle his job responsibilities without a support staff. Due to the time difference between the US and India, he will be working primarily at night. "Working nights will allow me to keep my day job at the Dell Computer call center," stated Mr. Singh in an exclusive interview.

"I am excited about this position. I always hoped I would be President." A Congressional spokesperson noted that while Mr. Singh may not be fully aware of all the issues involved in the office of President, this should not be a problem as Obama had never been familiar with the issues either. Mr. Singh will rely upon a script tree that will enable him to respond effectively to most topics of concern. Using these canned responses, he can address common concerns without having to understand the underlying issue at all. "We know these scripting tools work," stated the spokesperson.

"Obama has used them successfully for years, with the result that some people actually thought he knew what he was talking about." Obama will receive health coverage, expenses, and salary until his final day of employment. Following a two-week waiting period, he will be eligible for $140 a week unemployment for 26 weeks. Unfortunately he will not be eligible for Medicaid, as his unemployment benefits will exceed the allowed limit.

Obama has been provided with the outplacement services of Manpower, Inc. to help him write a resume and prepare for his upcoming job transition. According to Manpower, Obama may have difficulties in securing a new position due to a lack of any successful work experience during his lifetime. A greeter position at Wal-Mart was suggested due to Obama's extensive experience at shaking hands, as well as his special smile.

Hat tip to Uncawho!

NOTE: I do not know the author of this piece, so cannot give credit where credit is due. If anyone knows the author, please leave a comment. Thanks!

July e-Postal Match is Underway!

A couple of year's ago Azreel over at Free Spirit Mind hosted an e-Postal match and he based it on a golf course, complete with water hazards and sand traps. Sailor Curt of Captain of a Crew of One particularly enjoyed the match, and since he's hosting this month's match, he decided to bring Azreel's golf course challenge back one more time.

It works like most all of the other e-Postal matches, you download the target, shoot it full of holes, take a picture of what's left of the target ,and email the picture and information to Sailor Curt.

All you need to know is found in Sailor Curt's e-Postal Match post here.

** F ** O ** R ** E ** ! ! !

Baby Bunny Update Video

Considering the condition the little rabbit was in when we first saw him, his current condition borders on miraculous! I'm not sure how much vision he has in his left eye, but when you consider that I couldn't even find his eyeball in all the swollen and damaged tissue, any at all is amazing. His eyeball seems to be intact, and his eyelids now are normally open about 90 to 95%.

KeeWee filmed this short video this morning as a progress report.

Nothing's cuter than a baby bunny!

We are now on the lookout for a baby playpen to keep him in as the plastic tub from Wallyworld leaves a bit to be desired.......