Looking in at Iowa

Systems Engineer Thomas O. Meeker, of Robins, and William D. Kurth, Lake City, Iowa, participating attorney for the Rutherford Institute, file a lawsuit claiming religious discrimination in employment; $300,000 requested.

From United States Courts - Northern District of Iowa:

Andrew Mlynarczyk [of Rockwell Collins Human Resources] told Meeker that Meeker’s e-mail messages were disrespectful and that Meeker had acted outside of the Defendant’s Standards of Business Conduct. Meeker again expressed his disagreement with Defendant’s diversity training and his belief that the training was promoting the homosexual lifestyle by insisting that employees accept, celebrate and embrace homosexuality. …

[Stephen L.] Brandt stated that the concerns of the Defendant’s management involved Meeker’s June 7 e-mail and Meeker’s objections to participating in diversity training. …

Meeker informed those at the meeting that his June 7 e-mail was not the most respectful way to convey his views and gave his assurance that he would not write any similar messages in the future. …

[According to court document, this excerpt is from a July 6, 2007 certified letter from Brandt to Meeker.]

Based on your recent e-mails and other communications, we believe that you are unwilling to treat gay or lesbian co-workers with respect in the workplace. … you have informed us that you refuse to participate in our diversity training program, even though this training is required for all employees. We believe your unwillingness to commit to treat your co-workers with respect, coupled with your refusal to participate in such training, impedes your ability to perform your job in a manner consistent with our Standards of Business Conduct policy. Based on the foregoing, we have decided to terminate your at-will employment at Rockwell Collins effective immediately.

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From rasmussen.com via Yahoo! News:

In Iowa, the latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds Barack Obama leading John McCain 44% to 42%. This is the third consecutive poll to find the candidates very close in the state that gave Obama his first victory on the way to the Democratic Presidential Nomination. A month ago, it was Obama by four. In February, it was Obama by three. …

As for Iowa Governor Chet Culver (D), 35% say he is doing a good or excellent job while 30% give him poor marks.

In the unlikely event that Hillary Clinton wins the Democratic nomination, she trails McCain in Iowa by a 45% to 42% margin. …

From Chronicle of Higher Education:

To catch college students trading copyrighted songs online, the Recording Industry Association of America uses the same file-sharing software that online pirates love, an RIAA representative told The Chronicle at the organization’s offices during a private demonstration of how it catches alleged music pirates. He also said the group does not single out specific colleges in its investigations. …

Here’s how the process works: The RIAA maintains a list of songs whose distribution rights are owned by the RIAA’s member organizations. It has given that list to Media Sentry, a company it hired to search for online pirates. That company runs copies of the LimeWire program and performs searches for…

For the University of Iowa connection, see this Looking in at Iowa post from March: Record companies suing 20 University of Iowa Internet users accused of file sharing.