brianshah.net

I’m about as big a fan of taxes as the next person. Paying more in taxes means more out of my pocket for other things. But if it also means equalizing the playing field, reducing the overall tax burden on citizens, and restabilizing the state’s financial budget deficit, then I think it’s worth a discussion.

Senator Jon Erpenbach from Middleton proposes shifting existing sales tax exemptions to take away exemptions from certain services and providing them to others so that more revenue can be generated. Some “necessities of life,” such as food and medical care, would continue to remain exempt. But others, such as architectural services, public relation firms, and hair salons, would have to collect sales taxes.

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I love professional football; there’s no question about it. I’m a Green Bay Packers fan, win or lose (although I prefer the wins). The only reason I get out of bed on Sundays is to watch them play. And if the Packers don’t play on Sunday, I watch other teams. If I’m not watching, I’m out throwing the football. I just don’t get enough football, especially this time of year.

I’ve always enjoyed watching the National Football League (NFL) on television. I really enjoy the spirit that you see in both the players and the fans. And over the years, the NFL has been gracious enough to allow viewers to watch many of these games on network television.

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This Thanksgiving is a special one for my family. Earlier this year, my sister’s father-in-law was diagnosed with a terminal illness. He is recovering now, and I am thankful that he can spend the day with us. Second, I am thankful that my beautiful girlfriend could spend the day with my family, and that I can spend the day with hers tomorrow. Finally, my dad’s cousin’s son and his family just moved to Wisconsin from Texas recently, and they are spending the day with us. So I am thankful that they could share this special day with us. Thanksgiving for me is about counting the blessings in my life and realizing how fortunate I am to have so many loving people in it. I hope others also realize how fortunate they are to have someone that loves them, not only in their families and friends on Thanksgiving Day, but all year round. So to everyone out there, Happy Thanksgiving!

After a number of problems with my former Web host and my desire to redesign my site, I finally decided to move it to and reload it entirely in WordPress. It’s still a work in progress, but this is now my content management system. The first thing I’m working on is migrating old posts and articles to this blog. Additional work will include site modifications. I will have more details soon.

Tomorrow is Election Day. In the past two days, I’ve received more pre-recorded telephone calls from the candidates than I’ve received on my phone in the past year (yes, I have no life). I signed up for the Wisconsin No Call list to avoid telemarketers from calling me, but it only covers for-profit organizations. That means that political candidates are free to call and ask me to vote for them. I just wish they’d stop… I know where I stand on the issues, and I don’t need a pre-recorded phone message telling me who to vote for or how to vote on specific referenda.

So here is one thing I recommend for new legislation: update the no call law to allow people to opt out from receiving phone calls from political candidates, political action committees, and non-profit organizations. Until then, I’m voting for the candidate that has called me the least.