Rush Limbaugh's Anti-Scientism: There He Goes Again

Southern California's Santa Catalina Island, as seen by NASA’s Landsat 5 satellite on May 13, 2007. The image is made from a combination of visible and infrared light to enhance the contrast between areas burned by a wildfire (dark pink), naturally bare ground (light pinkish-orange), and vegetation (green). Credit: NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using data provided courtesy of the Landsat Project Science Office, NASA/GSFC. On his radio show yesterday, Rush Limbaugh popped a cork over tentative scientific evidence that Santa Catalina Island near Los Angeles may be sinking. He excoriated the Los Angeles Times for considering it news, made fun of the scientists who conducted it — and even managed to twist himself in knots working global warming into his tirade. All the while, he ignored the fact that research like this can help scientists do a better job of determining the risks we face from potentially catastrophic events like earthquakes and tsunamis. Limbaugh focused his ire on one aspect of the research: If Santa Catalina Island is indeed sinking, it would take 3 million years for it disappear completely: