IS FLORIDA THE NEW CALIFORNIA?

For decades California has been the source of odd trends that sometimes spread across the country. From strange political actions to tofu and Nehru jackets, California has become known for its behavioral oddities.

But now Florida is threatening to become the new home of the crazies. It has given us the spectacle of the wrangling over the fate of the young Cuban boy Elian Gonzales. The Florida voting in the presidential election of 2000 produced hanging chads, Jewish grandmothers voting for Pat Buchanan, recounts, and litigation culminating in the U.S. Supreme Court's unprecedented reversal of State court decisions.

While not as consequential as the 2000 election, the current dispute over a Terri Schiavo's right to die somehow elevated itself from a medical decision through Florida courts, its governor and legislature, all the way up to a special session of the U.S. Congress and a Presidential flight to Washington to sign the special bill.

Surely, turning the matter of a heart wrenching medical decision into a political farce qualifies as a legitimate challenge to California's position as our culture's twilight zone.