First of all, this story should never have been called ClimateGate. Given the similarities between this smear job and the Swift Boat attacks on Senator John Kerry, SwiftHack is a far more appropriate name.

I’ve attempted to cover the major points of interest in this story. Consider this post a perpetual work in progress. It will be continually updated. Please leave appropriate links and angles I’m missing in the comments.

For your convenience, the following 6 points each links to the corresponding section of this post:

The scientific consensus on climate change remains strong.

The impacts of catastrophic climate change continue to rear their ugly head.

Hacking into private computer files is illegal.

All of the emails were taken out of context.

The story is being pushed by far-right conspiracy theorists.

Scientists are human beings and they talk frankly amongst themselves.