Bridal Gown and Scuba Outfit

Favorite wedding photographer Cilla Blackledge confides, "I'm telling brides to bring scuba gear to the wedding. I've got a waterproof box around my camera now. You never know! Take a look at what happened at the last wedding I covered!"

As for the above picture, Cilla explains, "The bride and groom were prepared. She wore a drip-dry gown. He changed some lyrics on the karaoke machine. For instance, he sang "Nice day for a Wet Wedding."

Fact is, from New Orleans (Hurricane Katrina) to New York (Hurricane Sandy), flooding is no longer uncommon. Across the overflowing pond, it's the same. Horrendous scenes of water cascading into homes in Northern England hardly even raise a cry of protest. This is the way it is.

Mr. Ochs:

"And the holy works of love and reverence
Fell beneath the floods of Florence."

40 years ago, a terrible flood was not seen as the end of the world, just a sad incident.

Now we know that we are helpless against nature and worse, against human nature. Human nature is to ignore warning signs and to, in fact, make things worse. Like this flood of mindless machine-gun attacks around the world.

Brussels has announced the New Year has been canceled. Well, there wont be fireworks, because a bunch of psycho Muslims have put fear into the entire city. Yes, the fucking Muslims that were welcomed, have become rabid rats and nobody's sure which ones will suddenly bite.

In New York City, the blockhead mayor is assuring the citizens that NOBODY will get into Times Square without being checked TWICE. Backpacks will be confiscated. Alcohol will not be permitted. There will be no way that a suicide bomber can suddenly appear and take out 20 or 30 people. How nice.

It's humans who have caused the rampant floods that have devastated so many people lately. As unreasonable as radical Islam assholes, politicians have scoffed at avoiding the pollution, the fracking, and the rest of the things that are causing climate change. The basics for strengthening what remains have also been scorned.

It's easier for politicians to look sad and promise repair money to sorry, soggy constituents, than to prevent the next crisis. This was the case when fat New Jersey governor Chris Christie, an obese symbol of wretched excess, toured the destruction of Hurricane Sandy. He let women hug him and cry on him. Yeah, Big Daddy would throw some money their way. Or so he promised. Even after all these years, some people have not been able to return home.

There's no promise that another hurricane, another flood, won't do even worse damage.

"And the holy works of love and reverence
Fell beneath the floods of Florence."

If you check the thieving websites where lyrics are stolen, you won't find the above. One site says "the holy...undetermined..of love" and another "the holy works of love." Why should they bother getting it right? Why should they care. If you visit the site, that's traffic enough. The advertisers are happy. Fuck it if the Ochs estate gets no money and if the lyrics aren't right.

WORKS of love and reverence are viewed, today, as nothing but fodder for pirates to make a cheap buck. This could be outright pirates like Pirate Bay, or pimp bastards like eBay who turn a blind eye to the truth behind "Attention eBay, I own copyright or am an authorized reseller, or this item is in public domain." And then there's Spotify and the others who simply make money the old fashioned way, by being a monopoly and then cooking the books, defying anyone to sue them and shouting "we pay a fair royalty."

Piracy today is drowning the profits.

Bob Dylan titled an album "Before the Flood." More recently, he sang about "Highwater risin', rising night and day. All the gold and silver are being stolen away...Highwater rising the shacks are sliding down. Folks lose their possessions, the folks are leaving town..."

The very word "flood" stirs powerful images of helplessness. And that's just the way it is, as we start another year of the miserable 21st Century.