For some reason I woke up too early this morning. If you are like me, you know what a disappointing thing it is to wake up too early. The newspaper didn't have much news, so I find myself with a moment to post this before work. I was noticing in the news, that my old hometown of Omaha, Nebraska has the toughest anti-smoking ordinance in the country. In fact, the cops in Omaha are urging that people call 9-1-1 if they see others violating the ordinance. Crime must be slow in Omaha. I think you have to live in the Midwest to appreciate the mindset of a lot Midwesterners. The European immigrant influence remains strong, despite changing demographics and, despite what some social commentators may say, that is not a bad thing. There is a reason high school graduation rates in the upper plains states are consistently the highest in the land. Americans in general are prone to following the rules, but residents of Minnesota, the Dakotas, Nebraska and Iowa are even more likely to value social order, I think anyway. I was listening to the comedian Louis Anderson being interviewed the other day. Louis is from Minnesota and he remarked that if you ask a Minnesotan to give you directions on the street, they not only willingly do so, but may also offer to accompany you to your destination to make sure you get there okay. That is the Midwestern spirit. This got me to thinking about another thing in the paper today. Dale Dauten, who writes a business column, syndicated by King Features, remarked in his column today that corporate loyalty remains dead in it tomb. Dale can sure turn a phrase. That is the state of American business in a nutshell. One time, in a galaxy far, far away, I was a loyal company man, with aspirations of upward mobility. People in my job were hired and stayed until they died or retired. Getting fired was an act that took extraordinary effort. In the 1980's and 1990's things changed and companies began to downsize, corporate speak for layoff. We were told that the downsizing was vital to the survival of companies, but too often it was a vehicle that allowed the people in power to enrich themselves. The result is a culture in which few are loyal and most are free agents, looking out for number one. This is what the critics of Wal-Mart are trying to express when they talk about Wal-Mart killing small towns. Unfortunately for the genuine critics, they are accompanied by fellow travelers who are freaks or blatantly self-serving, but that is another story. Anyway, the absence of loyalty and the willingness to do things simply to save a few bucks is not a good way to run a business and it is a really bad way to run a country. Merle.