Dance Of The Reptiles

 I have read several of Carl Hiaasen's novels about wacky things that happen in Florida but Dance Of The Reptiles: Rampaging Tourists, Marauding Pythons, Larcenous Legislators, Crazed Celebrities, and Tar Balled Beaches: Selected Columns. Besides being a novelist, Carl is a columnist at the Miami Herald. This collection comes from 2001 to 2013. He reminded me of some of the crazy things that happened in his state. One idea he had was to have a separate jail for law breaking tourists. I imagine living in a high tourist area can be annoying when some people come to visit with the mentality that "anything goes." He writes about the BP oil spill. He writes about the election of George Bush. I had forgotten all about Katherine Harris, the hanging chads, and the supreme court decision. He writes about efforts to have the manatee delisted as endangered and saving the ecology of the Everglades. He writes about the Terry Schiavo case, the woman who was in a persistent vegetative state, and how her parents took her husband to court because he wanted to stop the tube feeding. Politicians from around the country used Terry Schiavo to push their political agendas. He wrote a very snarky column about Sarah Palin that had me laughing out loud. This author is not a fan of the Republicans. I thought it was strange and yet somewhat comforting that the political issues that were a problem twenty years ago are still a problem today.