Because Margaret Miller can't raise a kid right, she sues the police.

So what we have here is a case where some single mom lets her little crotch-fruit run wild with a skateboard and no manners until he runs up against a police officer in Baltimore. And when the officer gives her baby boy a bit of a lesson on how to interact with adult authority figures--a lesson that Margaret Miller should have taught her own child years ago--she sees dollar signs and runs down to the courthouse, shyster lawyer in tow, and files a lawsuit demanding that her and her little precious be given a bag of cash because her boy's feelings were hurt. That's right: hurt feelings. He wasn't arrested, he wasn't injured--he was just scolded. but in Margaret Miller's world, no one can ever scold her little darling. And if someone does, she wants cash.

Fortunately a judge just tossed her frivolous lawsuit out.

BALTIMORE, Md. - A civil lawsuit filed by the mother of a defiant skateboarder who was berated and grabbed by a Baltimore police officer while skating near the Inner Harbor has been thrown out by a judge.

"The family is incredibly disappointed, and feels wronged," attorney William P. Blackford tells WTOP. "They've had their day in court taken away."

Blackford filed the suit on behalf of Margaret Miller, and her son, Eric Bush.

Three weeks before the civil case filed against Salvatore Rivieri - a 17-year-veteran - was to go before a jury, Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Evelyn Cannon granted a defense motion to have the case dropped.

Rivieri had been suspended, but was cleared of any criminal wrongdoing.

A Baltimore police spokesman tells WTOP Rivieri has been back on patrol for several months.

Blackford says Judge Cannon's decision essentially trumped another Circuit Court judge's decision to allow the civil case to go forward, even though it was filed more than 180 days after the deadline.

Blackford had argued Maryland's law was unclear whether a juvenile's complaint can be held to the same 180 day standard.

"The family has the right to appeal, and I believe has a very strong case for appeal," Blackford says.

The 2007 exchange between Rivieri and the then 14-year-old Bush had been surreptitiously videotaped by one of the teenager's friends. It showed the officer pointing at the teen while lecturing him.

"First of all you disrespected me, this badge, and my department. You understand me? When I'm talking to you, you shut your mouth and you listen," Rivieri said.

"Obviously your parents don't put a foot in your butt quite enough, because you don't understand the meaning of respect."

The teenager's quietly mumbled responses were barely audible. Rivieri took offense to how he was being addressed.

"I'm not 'man.' I'm not 'dude.' I am Officer Rivieri."

In the defense's pretrial statements. Rivieri's attorneys said the teen "held his skateboard in a threatening manner," prompting Rivieri to push Bush to the ground, before seizing the board.

Blackford says it's unclear whether Miller, a single mother, and her son have the money to pursue an appeal to Maryland's Court of Special Appeals.

"The city has thrown up every roadblock in this case," Blackford says. "They should have just issued an apology, and that would likely have made this go away."

Fine, you want an apology? I'm sorry that William Blackford was ever admitted to the bar of Maryland or any other state. It's lawyers like him who give the profession such a bad reputation. I'm also sorry that Margaret Miller was even allowed to have a kid since it appear from his attire, his haircut and his demeanor that he's nothing but a little slacker with a future in fast food employment ahead of him. What's more, I apologize because this society that I'm a part of has devolved to the point where slovenly, rude kids are accepted and tolerated.

When I was a little kid, we were taught that adults were always "Sir" or Ma'am" and any teacher, neighbor, church member or police officer them had as much authority over any kid in the absence of the kid's actual parents as the parents did. If any adult saw me doing anything wrong, not only could they chastise me for it, but when they told my parents--and they usually did--I got it that much more from my dad when he found out. It wasn't acceptable to be a "bad kid" and bring disrespect upon the family, and punishment was sure and serious when I or my friends erred in that fashion.

But now we've had a couple of generations of single moms raising broods of little slackers who can do no wrong in the eyes of their mothers and who have never had a man in their lives to teach them what respect is, including the need to show it to others. It's because of things like this that our crime rate is rising, our scholastic achievement scores are dropping, and Democrats who support a "if it feels good, do it" policy are ruining our country by lowering the bar even further on behalf of the underachievers who vote them into office. And it all begins on a micro scale with kids like this punk, Eric Bush, and his layabout mom Margaret Miller. So my advice to Margaret is simple: Put down the bag of chips, turn off Oprah, get up off the couch, and start teaching your kid how to behave. Because you, Margaret Miller, are bringing down my country by raising bad kids and also by making things harder for countless other mothers who actually do their jobs and try to raise decent kids.

Hell, when I get to be President, I'm deporting Margaret Miller and her kid, probably to France, because one more surly kid and indifferent mom wouldn't even be noticed there.

Three unpatriotic punks booted from stadium, oft-disciplined attorney dad suing.

It starts out simply enough, according to the news report.

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- Three teenagers who say they were tossed from a New Jersey ballpark for sitting through the song "God Bless America" are suing the minor league Newark Bears.

The boys say their constitutional rights were violated when they were asked to leave Newark's Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium in June by Bear's president co-owner Thomas Cetnar.

Cetnar confirms the boys were asked to leave but declined to elaborate.

The boys - Millburn High seniors Bryce Gadye (gah-DEE') and Nilkumar (NIHL-koo-mahr) Patel, both 17, and junior Shaan (shahn) Mohammad Khan, 16 - sued in federal court Friday seeking unspecified damages.

They say when they told Cetnar they had the right to remain seated, he cursed and had two security officers remove them from their seats behind home plate.

Now just taking these facts as the whole story, I'm good with them getting booted for their arrogant display of disrespect. Hell, I'd like to take it a step farther and boot them right out of my country. Let the little cretins go enjoy the freedoms and liberties of most any other country for a few years and I predict that they'll be down on their knees begging to get back into this one. And for the record, I not only support Mr. Cetnar 100%, but I respect the hell out of him.

I'd also like to remind these little shitbirds that lawsuits alleging that their constitutional rights were violated really only work when the government denies you a right. Here though, they're in a private venue, with no government actors. The government doesn't own the stadium or the team, nor did a government official order them out. So that said, I have to wonder what kind of third-rate hack lawyer took on a case like this.

I didn't have to wonder long. This longer article explained that the lawsuit was filed on behalf of the punks by Ross Mitchell Gayde, Bryce's daddy, apparently after an unsuccessful attempt to shake the team and the stadium down for cash.

Ross Gadye said he met with general manager Mark Skeels and James Wankmiller, a co-owner, following the incident. He said they apologized and offered and free tickets, but Gadye said the boys wanted an apology from Cetnar, who was not at the meeting, and sued when there was no resolution.

Wankmiller, who declined to talk about whether the boys were asked to leave the ballpark and why, said they offered to meet with Gadye's son and the other boys and never heard back from them. He said it boiled down to money.

"We offered to sit with him and find out what his beef was and he asked for money," Wankmiller said. "That was about it."

So Daddy Gadye tried to pull a Jesse Jackson on them and extort some cash for the little hoodlums, and when the managers refused, he filed a lawsuit and started calling up newspapers and TV stations.

Now had this been me, MY father would have knocked my block off for not standing tall and showing the respect for our country that he taught me to have. Then he would have had me in that baseball team owner's office, where I would have apologized like there was no tomorrow coming had I ever caused a scene like this. But then he was my father, not my buddy, and he saw to it that I at least knew right from wrong.

But apparently these little turds never learned that lesson. And in Bryce Gadye's case, it's easy to see why.

A follow-up search showed that Daddy Ross Gadye is not exactly a good or ethical attorney. I immediately found his name on a 2001 US Supreme Court Order of Attorney Discipline.

D-2279 IN THE MATTER OF DISCIPLINE OF ROSS M. GADYE

Ross M. Gadye, of New York, New York, having been suspended from the practice of law in this Court by order of October 29, 2001; and a rule having been issued and served upon him requiring him to show cause why he should not be disbarred; and the time to file a response having expired;

It is ordered that Ross M. Gadye is disbarred from the practice of law in this Court.

If was memorialized forever as 535 US 924 (2002).He was also admonished by the New Jersey Supreme Court in 1999, apparently for practicing a case while under suspension in that jurisdiction. Even more, he also made this list of Lawyers Involved In Dishonest Conduct And Amounts Awarded To Their Clients 1982-2008.

Wow! Suspended in New Jersey, Disbarred in New York, labeled "Dishonest"...what marks of distinction and accomplishment for any attorney! But now we know what kind of chucklehead lawyer brings a case like this. And it's no wonder that his kid is a piece of shit. The apple seldom falls far from the tree.

Lunch with Russell

So yesterday I had a pretty heavy workout in the gym, in large part because The Magnificent Seven was on the gym TV so I had to run and ride the bike longer just to watch more of it. I wound up running six miles and I forgot to see how long I rode, but it was a good workout.

So as a treat to myself, I went down to Mario's Pizza in Berryville, VA to have a nice lunch. And it would have been nice too, except for Russell and his family who were also in there.

Now Russell is a little boy in a Cub Scout shirt who is probably ten years old or so. His parents brought him there along with four other little boys about the same age. They stuck Russell and the others at one table and sat by themselves at another, and then proceeded to ignore the brats as they all loudly tried to talk over one another, obviously oblivious to the concept of "indoor voices" v. "outdoor voices". And I got to know Russell on a first-name basis because his mom addressed him by name several times, scolding him for practically everything except of course shouting inside a restaurant.

And shout Russell did. It was impossible to tune out that shrill soprano voice of his, and his four peers weren't much better as they all tried to be heard over each other. They jabbered about video games, and cartoons and a movie or two, and all this time, the two adults who had inflicted these kids on the rest of the diners just sat there and ignored this maelstrom.

Now to be fair, I probably should have said something, but I was really feeling my workout and wasn't all that up to engaging two obviously thoughtless and insensitive people, and I pretty much figured that if I asked the parents to either crank their kids' volume down or take their food to go, there'd be an argument. Normally I'd be all over that, since such arguments are fun for me, particularly when it's clear that I'm right and I could expect at least a bit of support from the other diners, but I passed on the chance, naively hoping that the restaurant staff would say something, or fate would intervene and Russell would choke to death on a piece of his pizza. (He has six slices. His mom was counting and intercepted him when he tried to grab a seventh. And we all heard her explain how he'd reached his limit.)

Fortunately they finished their meal/shouting session and left just about the time that my food came. And as they were walking out, a little girl who'd been sitting at another nearby table walked towards me on her way back from the restroom. So I took the opportunity to rather loudly address her as she approached. "Well hello! Aren't you just the quietest, most well-behaved child?" I then turned to her parents and said just as loudly: "I never even saw her there, she's so quiet."

Russell's mom stopped in her tracks and turned to give me a nasty glare. And I found myself hoping that she'd say something as I returned her stare, because NOW I suddenly felt like playing. But alas, she just turned and followed her flock of screaming monkeys and her milquetoast husband out the door as the mother of the well-behaved girl grinned and whispered "Thank you for saying that."Now I wish that I'd said something earlier. People like Russell's mom really need to be told that they need to either control their kids in public or just keep them home and call Domino's. I'd like to think that she caught the hint but I doubt it. People like that are proud of their obliviousness to others around them. They won't do their part as responsible parents so the rest of us will have to publicly suffer Russell and the other little louts until they mature enough to catch the clue that their parents should have caught at least ten years ago. I could easily see this woman a few years prior, bringing an infant Russell to the movie theater and refusing to take him out when he started crying because she wants to see the movie. In a just world, the rest of us should be empowered to walk up and slap parents like that on the back of the head with no fear of legal consequences. But this is not a just world and parents like that don't feel required to keep their litters of caterwauling spawn in check any more.

Oh--and as much as I generally like Mario's, the wait staff or the owner (who was right there) really needed to step up and suggest to Russell's parents that they simmer their brood down. They might have made one family embarrassed or mad, but I suspect that they'd have gained a lot more support from the rest of us in the dining room.

EDITED TO ADD: This is gratingly reminiscent of my encounter with another band of urchins a couple years ago, notably the infamous "Mitchell".