Naked City

President Bush rallies the troops at Fort Hood for his invasion of Iraq. Bush told the assembled soldiers, "Thank you for this jacket. I'm proud to wear it." Bush last wore a uniform in the Texas National Guard during the Vietnam era. He wasn't quite as proud of that one -- he was allegedly AWOL for about a year in the 1970s. (Photo By J. Rocket)

Quote of the week No. 1: "You say we're headed for war in Iraq. I don't know why you say that ... I'm the person who gets to decide, not you." -- President Bush, speaking to reporters outside a cafe in Crawford. On the same day, more than 15,000 U.S. troops got deployment orders to the Persian Gulf; as of press time, U.S. troop strength in the region stands near 110,000. American commando teams are reportedly already on the ground and in action in Iraq.

Quote of the week No. 2: "We are not in a recession, but we are in an extended period of anemic growth." -- Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn, acknowledging at Texas A&M that the state deficit will be larger than the $5 billion she had earlier predicted. (Yes, Strayhorn. The former Carole Keeton McClellan Rylander married last Sunday for the third time, the day before being sworn in for her second term as comptroller.)

APD reported that the number of homicides in Austin dropped again in 2002 -- from 28 in 2001 to 25, with a fairly steady descent from a high of 46 in 1995. Austin's first murder of 2003 was reported Monday night.

UT biologist Camille Parmesan and Wesleyan economist Gary Yohe published additional biological evidence of the consequences of global warming over the last 50 years (see Naked City: Beyond City Limits).

On Dec. 28, an estimated 800,000 laid-off workers -- including 4,000 in Travis Co. -- exhausted their federal unemployment benefits. On Wednesday, President Bush signed a bill extending benefits for 13 weeks -- half of what the Democrats proposed. (See "Capitol Chronicle.")