Turning the heat up; NASA scientist's warnings on global warming need to be heard.(A SECTION)(Editorial)

Because of global warming, NASA's top climate scientist announced recently, 2005 appears to have been the hottest year in more than a century.

And if global warming continues unabated, the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts, the world's seas could rise as much as 10 feet by the end of this century, flooding many coastal areas.

But instead of heeding the warnings of the NASA scientist, James E. Hansen, the Bush administration apparently wants to stifle him.

Hansen, director of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, in a Dec. 6 speech to the American Geophysical Union, called upon the United States to take the lead in reducing …