Global warming alarmists exposed?

Blockbuster news (via MM):

If you own any shares in alternative energy companies I should start dumping them NOW. The conspiracy behind the Anthropogenic Global Warming myth (aka AGW; aka ManBearPig) has been suddenly, brutally and quite deliciously exposed after a hacker broke into the computers at the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit (aka Hadley CRU) and released 61 megabites of confidential files onto the internet. (Hat tip: Watts Up With That)

When you read some of those files – including 1079 emails and 72 documents – you realise just why the boffins at Hadley CRU might have preferred to keep them confidential. As Andrew Bolt puts it, this scandal could well be “the greatest in modern science”. These alleged emails – supposedly exchanged by some of the most prominent scientists pushing AGW theory – suggest:

Conspiracy, collusion in exaggerating warming data, possibly illegal destruction of embarrassing information, organised resistance to disclosure, manipulation of data, private admissions of flaws in their public claims and much more.

One of the alleged emails has a gentle gloat over the death in 2004 of John L Daly (one of the first climate change sceptics, founder of the Still Waiting For Greenhouse site), commenting:

“In an odd way this is cheering news.”

But perhaps the most damaging revelations – the scientific equivalent of the Telegraph’s MPs’ expenses scandal – are those concerning the way Warmist scientists may variously have manipulated or suppressed evidence in order to support their cause.

Ed Morrissey’s posted some of the emails, in particular a few in which the contents look pretty damaging. Make sure to read his post in full.

A few things that go without saying: 1) Hacking into someone’s emails and private files is obviously wrong, and it should be prosecuted. 2) In spite of the title of this email, I’m well aware – as are those who read this blog – that global warming alarmists have been exposed as fearmongering chicken little liars (not to mention hypocrites) for decades, but rarely has it been on a level where you actually have “scientists” and their associates caught on paper attempting to suppress data that is contra to their pre-desired result. And the few times these “scientists” have been clearly exposed, the MSM – predictably – engages in a cover-up of their own.

But this scandal has the potential to eclipse past agw scandals, to the point where the MSM will have no choice but to report on it. That said, when – if – the reports start filtering in, expect the angle on the stories not to be about the damaging information in the emails – information that, to my layman’s eyes, appears to show “scientists” trying to hide data that would hinder their pro-alarmist agenda, but instead about how it was an “invasion of privacy” with quotes from “scientists” and those in related fields expressing “outrage” that the hard work of their colleagues has been “compromised.” The same MSM – and many of the same lefties – who yawned back when Sarah Palin’s personal email account was hacked into last year, will rise up in favor of stonger laws that would allow for tougher punishment for hackers.

As they say, this story is developing – so hold on to your hats.