Today, a Washington Times editorial responded to news that Sens. John Kerry and Joe Lieberman released a draft bill to address climate change and energy needs by saying that bill's supporters are “more beholden to ideology than reality. As scientific data shows the Earth is actually cooling, the only thing heating up is alarmist rhetoric.” From the editorial:

Long-anticipated climate-change legislation is scheduled to be unveiled in the Senate today. The ostensible purpose is to clean the air by cutting carbon emissions 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. If the bill becomes law, though, consumers will get smoked as they are forced to pay more for a fill-up.

Backers of this measure are more beholden to ideology than reality. As scientific data shows the Earth is actually cooling, the only thing heating up is alarmist rhetoric. On Friday, Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said the president believes “now more than ever is the time to act,” indicating White House complicity in the push for higher gas prices. Attempting to impose new burdens on American families struggling in a buckling economy in hopes of mitigating an unproven climate theory says a lot about the O Force's warped priorities.

It's not clear what “scientific data” the Times is referring to when it says it shows “the Earth is actually cooling.” Four of the world's major meteorological organizations say this past decade was the warmest on record. NASA said 2009 tied for the second warmest year on record, and that its data for the last three decades show “an upward trend of about 0.2°C (0.36°F) per decade.” Below is a graph from the U.K. Met Office demonstrating global average temperatures from 1850-2009: