by - August 21, 2011 7:08 pm
Building blocks
Riff Raff, by Michael Tilley [email protected] Thousands of years ago when employed by a local chamber of commerce, a gaggle of us chamber folks from around the country gathered in…
Author: Michael Tilley
by - August 14, 2011 4:23 pm
Ticket punching
Riff Raff, by Michael Tilley [email protected] The gaggle of Republicans hoping to get their chance to redecorate the Oval Office in early 2013 participated Thursday in what these days passes…
by - August 7, 2011 10:07 pm
On losing Sam
Riff Raff, by Michael Tilley [email protected] I once got angry at Sam M. Sicard. It was during my time as an employee of the Fort Smith Chamber of Commerce. There…
by - July 31, 2011 12:44 pm
Political wine
It’s been an historic debate in Washington D.C., with far-reaching ramifications. For example, Illusionist David Copperfield, who once made the Statue of Liberty disappear, faces a significant career crisis because…
by - July 24, 2011 8:37 pm
Unsettled
The thing is, Fort Smith City Director Kevin Settle is a likable guy. Or, to the point of this essay, he has a likable side; amiable, also. More to the…
by - July 17, 2011 5:56 pm
An unlikely plurality
A local banker forwarded a PDF of a presentation Bill Emmons conducted July 13. Emmons, an assistant vice president and economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, titled…
by - July 10, 2011 9:26 pm
Lighting the fire
Gordon Woolf turned the party barge due east, taking his excited passengers about a mile closer to the point from which four U.S. astronauts were strapped into the Atlantis for…
by - July 4, 2011 6:20 pm
Let’s talk
Riff Raff, by Michael Tilley [email protected] A popular government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy or perhaps…
by - June 26, 2011 6:11 pm
Drama revisited
Editor’s note: This essay was first posted March 21, 2010. In light of the recent drama at Fort Smith Board of Director meetings, this re-posted essay serves to remind that…
by - June 19, 2011 3:37 pm
Farm family pride
Over in Johnson County, Linda and Harry Tilley and their wide swath of cows and turkeys and round bales of hay and other implements and accoutrements of agricultural life and…
by - June 12, 2011 6:50 pm
Paid media
Riff Raff, by Michael Tilley [email protected] We FOI’d ourselves this week about secret correspondence we’ve been having with the city of Fort Smith. After our attorneys argued with themselves as…
by - June 5, 2011 11:17 pm
The noisy shall inherit …
Riff Raff, by Michael Tilley [email protected] Only a callous, if not wholly obtuse, observer would fail to appreciate the great cacophony created by a small group among us who possess…
by - May 29, 2011 6:27 pm
Campbell’s political soup
Riff Raff, by Michael Tilley [email protected] Republican leadership in Arkansas this week sought to expose Matt Campbell as a cheater who, while working at his taxpayer-supported job at the Arkansas…
by - May 22, 2011 5:08 pm
Still here
Riff Raff, by Michael Tilley [email protected] Wasn’t prepared to have an essay for this week. The great Messianic recall of all good souls was to happen Saturday. It didn’t. Unless…
by - May 15, 2011 8:37 pm
Billy’s prostitution solution
Riff Raff, by Michael Tilley [email protected] Billy, a college friend from thousands of years ago, called again this week. He’d just returned from Vegas because “them sumbitches with the Corps…
by - May 8, 2011 9:04 am
Still a fortunate son
Riff Raff, by Michael Tilley [email protected] Editor’s note: This essay was first posted May 10, 2009. Happy Mother’s Day! A lot has changed in Mom’s world. The world in 1949,…
by - May 1, 2011 1:45 pm
Elementary lessons
There they were, talking core leadership principles like being proactive, seeking first to understand, the importance of responsibility and accountability, being gracious in winning and losing and establishing and then…
by - April 23, 2011 1:54 pm
More than just a day
Riff Raff, by Michael Tilley [email protected] The plan for this essay was to pontificate broadly on some terrific issue of the day on which my self-absorbed awareness had crafted a…
by - April 17, 2011 6:07 pm
Redistricting lessons
Riff Raff, by Michael Tilley [email protected] When it became clear Congressional redistricting would divide the Fort Smith metro area in a way that defied reason, the first response by local…
by - April 10, 2011 1:16 pm
Recycling for Earth Day, again
Editor’s note: This essay first appeared Aug. 1, 2009. It runs here again because Earth Day is right around the corner and we believe recycling an essay will help save…