An Irish Town Known for Matchmaking
Whatever you're looking for days, you can usually find on the Internet, even that special someone to share your life with. Computer dating is a big business here in the United States, and many people swear by it. But have you heard of Lisdoonvarna?
It's in Ireland --- and our colleague Mark Phillips can tell you about it.
Mark Phillips, CBS News Correspondent:
"Ireland may be a land of ancient traditions, but one has a very modern application. Forget dot-com dating. Every year at this time --- since nobody-can-remember-when --- the never-married, the widowed, and the once-but-no-longer married gather in Lisdoonvarna: the town in the wild west of Ireland famous for matchmaking."
People keep returning to Lisdoonvarna. Jimmy Flemming told Mark Phillips he's 82 now.
Jimmy Flemming, with Mark Phillips
"(Phillips:) How long have you been coming to this dance? (Flemming:) Roughly 69 years. (Phillips:) 69 years. (Flemming:) Yes. (Phillips:) Have you found a wife here? (Flemming:) Can't find one, unable."
Mark Phillips:
"But lots are able. Albert and Cicely Lawlor met here 43 years ago."
Albert Lawlor:
"We got married in 1968, in September 1968. And we haven't missed a year here since."
Mark Phillips:
"Dancing, they say, beats the Internet every time."
Albert Lawlor, with Mark Phillips:
"(Lawlor:) If you go to a lady and you ask her to dance, you're holding her and you're holding her close and it gives you that... (Phillips:) Like a test drive. (Lawlor:) Yes! (laughs) It's like a test drive --- exactly, exactly!"
Phillips also met a third-generation horse trader and matchmaker named Willy Daly.
Mark Phillips:
"He's got a book going back a hundred years showing, he says, thousands of successful matchups."
Daly: "It's a very lucky book, this now --- anyone that touches this book supposedly is supposed to be married inside of six months."
Jean McLaughlin of Washington, DC says, "See, I'm a very boring girl --- this is why I have trouble meeting men..."
Mark Phillips:
"Lately, for his fee of just over ten dollars a pop, he's got a nice line going of American women looking for Irish men."
McLaughlin says, "You know, back in the States, we do it on the Internet, so why not have the personal touch of a human being here."
There's much to be said for that...
Keeping a Watchful Eye on the H1N1 Flu
New government figures on the swine flu came out yesterday: 292 people in 28 states have died of the flu since the end of August.
CBS News Medical Correspondent, Dr. Jon LaPook says, "The latest CDC report leaves no doubt --- H1N1 can be deadly. And the profile of its hardest-hit victims continues to confound health officials."
Dr. Anne Schuchat with the Centers for Disease Control says, "We do think this is a young person's disease..."
"We are seeing 53 percent in people under 25 years of age --- 39 percent of hospitalizations are in people 25 to 64 years of age," says Schuchat.
Why is the H1N1 swine flu hitting the youngest and healthiest? Dr. LaPook says, "In a typical flu season, about 90 percent of the deaths are in people over the age of 65. Here, two-thirds of them are ages 25 to 64. And we're not quite sure why that is. One theory is that older people have some immunity to the H1N1 virus --- and so, the virus is preferentially attacking younger people."
The CDC says by all means get the swine flu vaccine, but demand is already outstripping supply.
"I understand and share everyone's desire to have more vaccine. I wish we had more than we have right now. But I want to let you know we do have more coming out every day..." says Dr. Schuchat.
In the meantime, other steps are being taken. Catholic churches in Salt Lake City have no shared chalice at communion, no holy water by the front door --- dipping finger spreads germs. So does handshaking. Real estate magnate Donald Trump, famous for handshake deals, discourages actual handshakes.
Donald Trump says, "I've been on this bandwagon for many years --- people shouldn't be doing it ... I have people come into my office, and they shake my hand, and then I say, 'How are you feeling?' And they say, 'Oh, I'm so sick, I have the worst cold' or 'I have the worst flu.' And I say, 'What did you shake my hand for?!'"
Pulling the Runoff Vote in Afganistan
Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai and his chief rival, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, have both agreed to a runoff election to be held November 7th. That's two weeks from this Saturday.
This is a logistical challenge to say the least, says CBS News Correspondent Mandy Clark in Kabul, "Elections here require massive logistics. Even the donkeys that carried voting materials to remote places in August will not be able to reach the same places, some of which are already being cut off by winter weather."
Not much time to plan, campaign, set up voting places, and protect voters from Taliban attacks. American soldiers will be called on to help with that, which means some combat missions will have to be put on hold.
President Obama was quick to express his approval of an Afghan runoff election. He says, "President Karzai, as well as the other candidates, I think have shown that they have the interest of the Afghan people at heart..."
Abdullah Abdullah is willing, but he says, "If for practical reasons, holding a runoff before the winter is not possible, then we need to talk in order to find a solution."
That does not mean a coalition government, says Abdullah --- President Karzai has always rejected that saying, "And I am also not intended to be part of a coalition government."
Regardless of how the runoff goes, says our Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, "The issues of corruption and governance that we are trying to work with the Afghan government on are not going to solved simply by the outcome of the presidential election. This is going to be a work in progress."
So, the voters who braved Taliban threats in the summer are being asked to do so again, with winter fast approaching. Again, CBS News Correspondent Mandy Clark says, "The biggest concern now is trying to curb the fraud that plagued the August elections. But with just a few short weeks to go, there's little time to secure voting stations, let alone guarantee a clean contest."
A Lifeline to Help Struggling Small Businesses?
President Obama is expected to announce a new program to try to increase liquidity by giving small community banks access to the government's 700 billion dollar financial rescue fund.
Hugh Johnson of Johnson Illington Advisers thinks that's a great idea, he says, "Nearly half of the employment in the United States is in these smaller companies."
Because it will help to ease their liquidity issue.
Johnson says, "Small business needs a lot of help, and this certainly will help."
No, it won't, some small business people say.
Michael Frederich, president of MCM Companies says, "We don't have a liquidity issue --- what we have is a lack of business..."
It's true that the huge government financial efforts have no, to this point, gone to the banks that service small businesses across the country.
And Hugh Johnson says this has made it difficult for them to borrow money.
"These Mom-and-Pop shops are very, very critical to employment conditions in the United States. That's where most of the growth in employment, the change --- the year-to-year change in employment --- occurs. It's in small businesses," says Johnson.
But Michael Frederich, who runs MCM Companies in Wisconsin that makes parts for other companies, says this is based on a false premise. He says, "It will not affect us, because liquidity is not an issue for small businesses. What small businesses are suffering from is a lack of business, because there's no investment taking place in the market."
Mr. Johnson thinks the problem is that bankers don't want to lend money to small business.
"There is the perception of bankers or lenders that if it's a small business, it's a riskier business. So when the credit conditions became difficult, it became extremely difficult for small businesses to borrow money..." says Johnson.
Well, it's wrong, says Mr. Frederich, "This looks like it was designed by the gang who couldn't shoot straight. They come up with these ideas and they think lending money is going to stimulate the economy --- and the only thing that's ever stimulated the economy is reduced government spending and reduced taxes. But, that's not in their playbook."
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