One reason that the global warming scientists at East Anglia and elsewhere might have been keen to discard disconfirming data is that nobody would want to fund global warming research if they thought global warming was not a big problem. Playing the follow-the-money game, the Wall Street Journal’s Brett Stephens reports:

the European Commission’s most recent appropriation for climate research comes to nearly $3 billion, and that’s not counting funds from the EU’s member governments. In the U.S., the House intends to spend $1.3 billion on NASA’s climate efforts, $400 million on NOAA’s, and another $300 million for the National Science Foundation. The states also have a piece of the action, with California—apparently not feeling bankrupt enough—devoting $600 million to their own climate initiative. In Australia, alarmists have their own Department of Climate Change at their funding disposal.