It’s not clear to me which planet your guest columnist Dick Sabine lives on (Oct. 16), but I know that it can’t possibly be Earth.

His comment, “All things being equal, [an employer] will not be influenced by the applicant’s membership in a particular group” is either total denial or just plain ignorance of the way the world works now, has worked in the past and will work in the future.

Even our own president is influenced by such simple qualifications as membership in a particular group. Harriet Miers, Supreme Court nominee, and, of course, New Orleans’ good old buddy, former FEMA Director Mike “Brownie” Brown, are just two recent examples of blatant cronyism – one with disastrous results and the other a slap in the face of far more qualified judicial candidates.

Dick Sabine is just plain wrong. Cronyism is alive and well in politics and business. One of government’s key roles is to make sure that all people are treated fairly, equally and have recourse in the courts.

James L. Wilkins, Auburn