Opinion
Tuesday 18: We were fleeced!
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, The Cooks’ prosperity is based on tourism – and rightly so. You have it all. Four of us from New Zealand spent a glorious last week of July in Rarotonga and Aitutaki. And here’s how to kill the goose and its golden eggs. Take tourists for a ride by charging them $55 departure […]
Friday 14: Top job!
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, I write to you on behalf of the team at Matariki FM to ask if you would publish our gratitude of the great TV presentation that Jeanne Matenga, Moana Vaevae and others are doing of the WYNC as seen on Cook Islands Television. Jeanne is the sole CITV camera person and Moana the […]
Thursday 13: SHINY COSTUMES
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
Responding to the smokie about Te Hiva Nui girls temporarily mislaying their coconut bras for their shows in England, a reader recalls when Papua New Guinea hosted the 1980 Festival of Pacific Arts, the female dancers in the teams from the Cook Islands and Tahiti were sometimes playfully described in Tok Pisin (Pidgin English) as […]
Tuesday 18: Snacks were to ease tension
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, I write to provide clarification about the escaped prisoners, as requested by a letter writer in yesterday’s newspaper. I was contacted by the police saying the escapees wanted to give themselves up. The escapees noted that they would only talk to me as the Secretary of Justice or their former legal adviser Tony […]
Friday 14: It's fallacious, fraudulent
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, The shenanigans of the recently appointment of the HOMs are fallacious and, we believe, fraudulent. The whole of cabinet ought to be audited and charged if this can be proven to be fraud because what they did was not good governance and transparency as per their political party manifesto. Their selections were purely […]
Thursday 13: WANTING TICKETS
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
A reader reports a “perplexing experience” at the opening of the World Youth Netball champs while trying to buy tickets for matches for subsequent days, but was told none would be on sale till at least Wednesday. “How bizarre when those wanting tickets are right there and the MC kept promoting other matches all afternoon.”
Tuesday 18: Prosecute for Tepuka sewage problem
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, Regarding your recent report head ‘Still no sewage permit for complex’, the sewage treatment system of Tepuka/Tereora has been a problem right from the beginning and everybody knows that. But nobody wanted to take responsibility for it for a long time and the buck was passed from one government entity to another, this […]
Friday 14: Finsec defends bonus
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, In response to your article of Thursday August 13 headed ‘Finsec wants performance bonus’, I wish to respond. Firstly, since taking up this role, the PSC Commissioner Mr Navy Epati has never done a formal performance appraisal for me. Given this was not done for the last two years, I took the initiative […]
Wednesday 12: Naai e tutaki?
Wednesday 12 August 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
E te Etita, Kia orana i te aroa maata o te Atua. E manga manako uiui ua teia no te manga ekoko i te ingoa o te ngutuare tarekareka (WYNC) i raro i Nikao. Iaku e akara uatu nei e kua kite au i te ingoa e ‘Telecom Sports Arena’. Te uiui nei te manako, […]
Wednesday 12: We'll be back!
Wednesday 12 August 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, I was asked to submit some thoughts and reviews of my recent trip to Raro. I live in San Francisco, California, USA, and travelled to Raro the first week in July with my girlfriend. We had the time of our lives in Raro. We went to many of the bars and shops in […]
Monday 10: WHO ARE THE KINGS?
Wednesday 12 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
Larry Price says it right in his letter last week titled ‘King or the People?’ comments a smoke signaller. “He asks ‘What is your guess?’ The answer? The court won’t find it easy, but there will be lots and lots of work for the lawyers and lots of work means lotsa money! Who is King? […]
Wednesday 12: Don't allow cabinet reshuffle mockery
Wednesday 12 August 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, I read with interest the comment by ex-Minister Wilkie Rasmussen in regards to Sir Terepai, our current Deputy Prime Minister. I have a lot of respect for Sir Terepai who I believe has been a good minister and may be an honest politician too. But recent events that have transpired in the past […]
Monday 10: SAME SAME BUT DIFFERENT
Wednesday 12 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
An irate reader reports his disgust at the Minister of Finance’s statement in the budget speech that the Cook Islands faces the same challenges as countries around the world. “Not so,” says our reader. “Other countries don’t have the majority of their politicians as incompetents. Neither do they have a few collaring as many of […]
Friday 7: Dear Editor,
Wednesday 12 August 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
The Bible refers to Michael the Archangel five times. Mix these references with others, mash them, squish them or squash them, and not a single one of them can be made to say that Jesus is Michael. If Jesus is Michael and all of the angels worship him as we’re told in Hebrews 1:6, the […]
Monday 10: CONSTITUTION SURCHARGE
Wednesday 12 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
A visiting couple who were in Aitutaki at the time of the August 4th Constitution Day commemoration commented on a 15 percent surcharge they were required to pay at some places. They said the 15% surcharge at restaurants was similar to what they would face on a public holiday back home, but they were a […]
Monday 10: AIM HIGH
Wednesday 12 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
Referring to whoever advised the Cooks U21 not to worry too much, they just need to do better than 7th place, a smoke signaller said: “Come on kotou, think about how much sweat we had to go through to get them here. Be serious in everything you do or say to them so that they […]
Monday 10: DODGY BAG
Wednesday 12 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
A satisfied diner asked for a bag of bones and scraps for his dog, which the restaurant duly provided, and on the way home he stopped at Whatever Bar for a drink. While there, someone stole his bag! He laughed when he sent us this smoke signal, adding, “I hope they choke on it!”
Monday 10: TOP SHOW
Wednesday 12 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
Te Hiva Nui dance team, one of the hit groups at the Billingham International Folklore Festival in the UK that wrapped up this weekend, featured in a news article with the playful title ‘Dancers go nuts as stage bras show up’. “The girls from the Cook Islands thought their traditional coconut bras must have been […]
Monday 10: Bear the badge of shame
Wednesday 12 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
Those supposedly responsible for the progress of sports in the Cook Islands are “individually dumb and collectively dumber”, a smoke signaller writes. “The vote to amend the SPG charter was taken right here in Rarotonga, and was passed UNANIMOUSLY. That means that each and every representative from the Cooks was there and voted …so no […]
5 August: PAGING KIP'N'ALICE
Wednesday 5 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
It’s been over a week since they left Shortland Street to “choose life” in Rarotonga, but neither has turned up to start work at the hospital’s emergency department. Maybe they got confused and are waiting outside the Outpatients Clinic at Tupapa – as in the episode that’s been shown 2.9 times on TV – rather […]
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