I have talked to several people and received emails from others that some sort of pornographic popups appear when you access South Dakota Watch.

Believe me, that is the last thing I want on this site. I have not put them here.

I know there are other annoying popups that my host, squarespace.com, inserts. I don't know if they are the culprit or if someone has hacked my site to add the pornographic popups.

As I am busy with work and then the Democratic Convention the rest of the week, it probably won't be until next week that I can get to the bottom of what's going on. I have contemplated moving this site to another host anyway, this might just expedite things.

Again, my apologies for the offensive popups. Perhaps you'll need to ratchet up your browser's popup filter to try and knock them down in the meantime.

If anyone has any other ideas on what to do, please send me an email.

Technorati Tags: popups

I’ve been busy traveling, going to meetings, or seeing my Dad and one of my law professor friends while here in Topeka. But it has been an eventful day or two so far. Some highlights:

• Hung out with Rodney, my Dad, who lives in Augusta, Kansas.
• Hung out with Myrl Duncan, one of my law professors from Back In The Day at Washburn Law School.
• Shook hands with keynote speaker, Kinky Friedman, writer, satirist, singer, former Texas governor candidate.
  
• Saw Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, often mentioned as a possible running mate for Sen. Barack Obama.  She’s also quite babalicious.
  
• Had about the best tacos de carnitos ever at Pepe and Chelesea’s in Topeka.
• Saw the “Rev.” Fred Phelps and his band of anti-gay bigots protesting outside of Topeka High School, the site of the annual Bar Show. They have industrial strength metal protest signs that they can take on the road for their protests.
• Had a great seminar on closing statements and presenting a pie chart on damages in personal injury cases.
• The Bar Show features local dancing, singing, and acting lawyers.  It is a tradition that goes back to 1936.  It’s nice to see my colleagues step out of their sometimes stuffy roles as lawyers and judges.
  

More stuff today then back home to Harrisburg then back on the road to Chamberlain, SD tomorrow.

Technorati Tags: Fred Phelps, Topeka, Kansas, Kathleen Sebelius, Barack Obama, Kinky Friedman

Sorry for the lack of posts today. I was getting ready for and then represented a client in a state licensing board hearing today (I got their license re-instated. Yea me!) then I was getting ready to go to Topeka, Kansas for the Kansas State Bar Convention. (Yes, Alter Ego, I am a licensed attorney in Kansas as well, Mr. Smartypants.)

As I will be on the road most of tomorrow (Oh-Dark Thirty or so) then sitting in CLEs then meeting my Dad and a law professor buddy in T-Town, I’ll be a busy little legal camper. More of the same on Saturday and then a late drive home. Then off to Chamberlain Sunday morning for a meeting for one of my groups.

I’ll post what I can where I can. In the meantime, talk amongst yourselves and donate money to Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign.

Later, fellow babies!

Official as in "officiating."

I'm refereeing basketball at the Sioux Falls MAYB tournament at Augustana and soccer at the Dakota Gold Tournament at Tomar Park.

Three games down today, three tomorrow.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't really quite stiff. Not tired, stiff. I'm thinking of taking a soak in bathtub full of Atomic Balm.

So far I've not said "play on" during a basketball game or done a ten count when the attacking team is bringing the ball up on their half of the field during a soccer match.

Technorati Tags: soccer, Dakota Gold, MAYB, Augustana College, Sioux Falls

Barack Obama’s campaign website has an incredibly powerful and innovative area called my.barackobama.com.

It is a social media site that is every bit as powerful and connecting as Facebook.

You can start a blog (Heck, what’s one more? Todd Epp’s Barackified Blog), find fellow Barackites, join various Barackian groups (My personal favorite: Bruce Springsteen Fans for Barack), and it’s even competitive. You earn points for being active on the site.

I’m currently in the 116,000s or so, but climbing fast. Who says progressives and Democrats don’t like competition?

Whether you like Barack or not, if you’re at looking political website design and getting supporters involved, the Man Crush is definitely in the realm of 2.0.

Technorati Tags: Barack Obama, political websites, web 2.0, blogs, social media

This weekend I joined the Apple Realm, a kinder, gentler, more enlightened place than the World of PC, particularly that horrible dictatorship known as Vista.

Actually, I've rejoined the Apple Realm.

Way back in 1985 or so, my first personal computer was an Apple IIe. It had a green screen. I went upscale and bought a second floppy disk drive (back when disks really were floppy) so I could run a program and save data all at the same time. I also had some Apple printer that weighed 50 pounds or so.

Ever since, about 1988 or so, however, I've been a PC person.

Oh, I liked my Apple fine. But I seemed to live in the World of PC.

But I'll tell you what put me back in the Apple Realm. First, Apple users. They love their machines. They brag about their machines. Their machines are akin to the angels.

The other thing? Windows Vista.

What a piece of utter crap. It's a memory hog compared to Windows XP, lets me do fewer things to fix problems, and constantly crashes.

So, I went to my favorite store on the face of the planet--Best Buy--talked to a nice gal in a blue shirt, and brought home the basic iMac.

First, I love the 20 inch screen. Marvelously easy to read and great graphics.

Second, I love how fast it runs. It is much faster than any PC I've ever used.

Third, it never crashes.

The only drawback that I've found is that there aren't as many print drivers out there as I thought. My iMac won't talk to my fancy new HP Laserjet color printer or my Samsung black and white printer. So I'm using some cheaper HP printers that it will work with.

But as I learned from my iPod and iTunes, Apple stuff is just engineered to be more intuitive.

So, just call me iTodd of the Apple Realm.

Technorati Tags: iMac, PC, computers, Apple, iPod, iTunes

Sorry for the late posting. The jury came back in my federal drug conspiracy criminal case late Thursday night. I was wiped out Friday and mostly slept.

Anyway, the jury convicted my client of the greater offense of conspiracy to distribute 50 grams of crack cocaine. Two of the other defendants were also similarly convicted but one of the defendants was acquitted on all charges. That’s good for him—he goes free—but makes my job on appeal to the 8th Circuit more difficult as the jury obviously considered the evidence separately as to the four defendants.

Even though the feds have a conviction rate of 97% or so, I really thought my client had a chance. Four eyewitnesses could not identify him in court. Countless others didn’t know his name. Still others never mentioned his name.

Frankly, I thought I gave a really good closing argument that wove the facts and my theme—that these cases are like Play-Doh where the Governments stretches things to make whatever they want. I thought I had an attentive jury.

But that’s not how 12 citizens thought it went. I have to respect the jury’s decision. That’s the basis of our system of justice.

However, that doesn’t mean I don’t think they’re right.

All the attorneys in the case did a great job—John Haak, the Assistant US Attorney, put on a well organized case. He was nothing but a professional and a gentleman. I can’t say enough about fellow defense attorneys Dave Pfeifle, Mike Hansen, and Tom Wilka. They all fought hard, fought fair, and with passion and intelligence. Dave actually got his guy off. It was a pleasure litigating with all of these attorneys. I also learned a lot from them that I have put in the back of my mind for my next trial.

So, I’ll be filing some post-conviction motions and a appeal. We’re not done yet!

Meanwhile, Monday, it’s also back to my other clients and their needs.

I probably enjoyed trying this case more than any other case I’ve had. When you are in the courtroom fighting for someone’s life, it is both serious and exhilarating. Even though I disagree with the result, it is a marvelous process and I am reminded that I work in a noble profession.

Technorati Tags: criminal law, federal district court, drugs, conspiracy, law, lawyers

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