Stoneridge – Which Side Are You On?

HERE COMES THE JUDGE

Hear ye, hear ye

This court is now in session His Honor, Judge Pigmeat Markham presidin

Hear ye, hear ye, the court of swing It’s just about ready to do that thing I don’t want no tears,

I don’t want no lies Above all, I don’t want no alibis!

This Judge is hip, and that ain’t all, He’ll give you time if you’re big or small

All in line for this court is neat Peace brother, here comes the Judge Here comes the Judge!

Everybody knows that he is the judge! Everybody near or far!

I’m goin’ to Paris to stop this war. All those kids gotta listen to me,

Because I am the judge and you can plainly see I wanna big ’round table when I get there.

I won’t sit down to one that’s square I wanna lay down the law to them that brought it!

I’ll bust some head because I am the judge He is the judge, he is the judge.

“Who’s there?”

“I is.”

“I is who?”

“ I is your next door neighbor Order in this courtroom! Order in this courtroom!”

“Judge, your Honorship, Hi sir.”

“Did I hear you say order in the court?”

“Yes.”

“I said order in the court!”

“Well, I’ll take two cans of beer, please.”

He is the judge, he is the judge!

Everybody knows that he is the judge!

Anyone who has been reading this blog should be able to guess my feelings and biases about Stoneridge. I’ve written often enough about some of the corporations whose ongoing litigation will be affected by the decision, like Enron and Parmalat as well as of my love for the Court.

And, after all, I’m a second-generation ethnic, daughter of a man who belongs to three unions, who writes critically about one of the pillars of capitalism (?), the Big 4 audit firms. But enough about me…

There’s enough being written about the case and the arguments by those who revel in the details of what the judges wear under their robes, who is flirting with whom, who sat on which side of the room and who choked, I mean coughed, during oral arguments. I like the WSJ Law Blog for that kind of reporting.

While we are waiting, please vote on the outcome. See my sidebar.

I’d rather talk about one of my favorite books of all times, “Which Side Are You On? Trying to Be for Labor When It’s Flat on Its Back”
Revised Edition (Paperback)
by Thomas Geoghegan

“Organized labor.” Say those words, and your heart sinks. I am a labor lawyer, and my heart sinks. Dumb, stupid organized labor: This is my cause.”

From Amazon: The comic, poignant, one-of-a-kind book that “reads like an enthralling novel” (Studs Terkel).

When it first appeared in hardcover, Which Side Are You On? received widespread critical accolades, and was nominated for a National Book Critics Circle Award for nonfiction. In this new paperback edition, Thomas Geoghegan has updated his eloquent plea for the relevance of organized labor in America with an afterword covering the labor movement through the 1990s.

A funny, sharp, unsentimental career memoir, Which Side Are You On? pairs a compelling history of the rise and near-fall of labor in the United States with an idealist’s disgruntled exercise in self-evaluation. Writing with the honesty of an embattled veteran still hoping for the best, Geoghegan offers an entertaining, accessible, and literary introduction to the labor movement, as well as an indispensable touchstone for anyone whose hopes have run up against the unaccommodating facts on the ground. Wry and inspiring, Which Side Are You On? is the ideal book for anyone who has ever woken up and realized, “You must change your life.”