- published: 10 Mar 2006
- views: 3210
Jon Wiener is an American historian and journalist based in Los Angeles. He is notable for waging a successful 25-year legal battle to win the release of the FBI's files on John Lennon. Wiener played a key role in efforts to expose the surveillance as well as the behind-the-scenes battling between the government and the former Beatle, and is a recognized expert on the FBI-versus-Lennon controversy. A professor emeritus of United States history at the University of California, Irvine, he is also a contributing editor to the left-leaning political weekly magazine The Nation and host of The Nation's weekly podcast, "Start Making Sense." He also hosts a weekly radio program in Los Angeles. In addition to being an advocate for liberal causes and transparency in government, he wrote two books about Lennon, and has described Lennon's song "Imagine" as being a "hymn to idealism" with relevance today. He has been criticized by reporters for having a left-oriented bias in his books, sometimes leading to a revisionism regarding Lennon's political orientation. Wiener interviewed Gore Vidal many times, and recently published a book of interviews with the late celebrity which spanned many years.
Gore Vidal (/ˌɡɔːr vᵻˈdɑːl/; born Eugene Louis Vidal; 3 October 1925 – 31 July 2012) was an American writer (of novels, essays, screenplays, and stage plays) and a public intellectual known for his patrician manner, epigrammatic wit, and polished style of writing.
As Eugene Louis Vidal, he was born to a political family; his maternal grandfather, Thomas Pryor Gore, served as United States senator from Oklahoma (1907–21 and 1931–37). As Gore Vidal, he was a Democratic Party politician who twice sought elected office; first to the United States House of Representatives (New York State, 1960), then to the U.S. Senate (California, 1982).
As a political commentator and essayist, Vidal's principal subject was the history of the United States and its society, especially how the militaristic foreign policy of the National Security State reduced the country to decadent empire. His political and cultural essays were published in The Nation, the New Statesman, the New York Review of Books, and Esquire magazines. As a public intellectual, Gore Vidal's topical debates on sex, politics, and religion with other public intellectuals and writers, occasionally became continual quarrels with the likes of William F. Buckley Jr. and Norman Mailer. As such, and because he thought that men and women potentially are bisexual, Vidal rejected the adjectives "homosexual" and "heterosexual" when used as nouns, as inherently false terms used to classify and control people in society.
John Felix Anthony Cena (/ˈsiːnə/; born April 23, 1977) is an American professional wrestler, rapper and an actor signed to WWE, but is on hiatus due to injury as of February 2016. Cena is credited by WWE as the public face of that organization, and has served as its franchise player since 2005.
Cena started his pro wrestling career in 1999 with Ultimate Pro Wrestling (UPW), and won its heavyweight title the following year. Cena signed a developmental contract with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, later renamed to WWE) in 2001, debuting on the main roster in 2002. As of February 2016, Cena has won 24 championships, with 15 reigns as a world champion; he has won the WWE Championship/WWE World Heavyweight Championship a record of 12 times and the World Heavyweight Championship three times (WWE.com has repeatedly described him as a 15-time WWE World Heavyweight Champion), Cena also had five reigns as United States Champion, and four reigns as world tag team champion (two World Tag Team and two WWE Tag Team). Furthermore, he is a 2012 Money in the Bank ladder match winner, a two-time Royal Rumble winner (2008, 2013), and a three-time Superstar of the Year Slammy Award winner (2009, 2010, 2012).
Well John Henry was a little baby
Sittin' on his daddy's knee
He picked up a hammer and
a little piece of steel
And cried, "Hammer's gonna
be death of me, Lord, Lord
Hammer's gonna be the death of me"
Now the captain he
said to John Henry
"I'm gonna bring that
steam drill around
I'm gonna bring that
steam drill out on these tracks
I'm gonna knock that
steel on down, God, God
I'm gonna knock that
steel on down"
John Henry told his captain
"Lord a man ain't noth' but a man
But before I let that steam drill
beat me down
I'm gonna die with a hammer
in my hand, Lord, Lord
I'll die with a hammer in my hand"
John Henry driving
on the right side
That steam drill driving
on the left
Says, "Fore I let your
steam drill beat me down
I'm gonna hammer
myself to death, Lord, Lord,
I'll hammer my fool self to death"
Well captain said to John Henry
"What is that storm I hear?"
John Henry said, "That
ain't no storm captain
That's just my hammer
in the air, Lord, Lord
That's just my hammer in the air"
John Henry said to his shaker
"Shaker, why don't you sing?
Cause I'm swingin' thirty pounds
from my hips on down
Yeah, listen to my cold steel
ring, Lord Lord
Listen to my cold steel ring"
John Henry he hammered
in the mountains
His hammer was striking fire
But he worked so hard;
it broke his heart
John Henry laid down his hammer
and died, Lord, Lord
John Henry laid down his hammer and died
Well, now John Henry
he had him a woman
By the name of Polly Ann
She walked out to those tracks
Picked up John Henry's hammer
Polly drove steel like a man, Lord, Lord
Polly drove that steel like a man
Well every, every Monday morning
When a blue bird he began to sing
You could hear John Henry
from a mile or more
You could hear John Henry's hammer
ring, Lord, Lord
You can hear John Henry's hammer ring
I say, You can John Henry's
hammer ring, Lord, Lord
You can John Henry's