If you are a casual observer of global warming there are two excellent posts on tcsdaily outlining the NAS report on the hockey stick controversy. The first summarizes the findings of the NAS and contrasts their findings with the media reports about their findings. The second gives some added background on how the NAS got involved in the first place.
Of course if you have more in-depth knowledge, there are more substantive discussions on the climate audit and Prometheus blogs.
Bottom line is this: the hockey stick graph became an axiomatic emblem of global climate warming and its active promotion was integral to the public acceptance of both global warming and the need for intervention by governments in the form of Kyoto style intervention in the economy. The hockey stick was not based on data and methods that were available and amenable to replication and refutation -- the gold standard of scientific inquiry. That this was revealed was not because of the actions of those within the fraternity but due to questions from those without.
Any dead fish can float downstream: it takes energy and purpose to swim against the flow.
