This letter is in response to Tim Phelps' letter on the editorial "State of Fear" (SN 1/30) ("Lambasting of Bush shows liberal bias," SN 1/31).

During his State of the Union address, President Bush said, "Jobs are created when the economy grows; the economy grows when Americans have more money to spend and invest; and the best and fairest way to make sure Americans have that money is not to tax it away in the first place." He then proposes "only" a 4-percent increase in the federal government's discretionary spending limit, committing an additional $400 billion during the next decade to strengthen Medicare, creating a research fund of $1.2 billion to develop hydrogen-powered automobiles, earmarking $450 million to bring mentors to disadvantaged youth, a new $600-million drug treatment plan and a $15-billion commitment to treat AIDS in Africa and the Caribbean.

Something smells fishy. Our president promises tax relief in one breath, then proposes almost $500 billion in programs dealing with health care and humanitarian and environmental issues in the next.

I didn't know Bush was a humanitarian or a environmentalist. Could all of this be just a red herring to distract us from the real issues at hand?

Or maybe it's all a smoke screen to cover military actions the government has already undertaken.

I know, Phelps, that The State News often looks like it has a very liberal bias. However, this time I feel they have hit the mark. Then again, maybe this is all just more liberal fodder.

Darrell Standring
East Lansing resident