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["Shea Tisdale" <shea AT sheatisdale.com>]

I've been following the Target Stores debate on here with a great deal of
interest.  Basically, I like the Salvation Army and I have given to them in
the past.  

On this point however, I have to side with Target.  Target has the right to
allow or deny any group it sees fit from fund raising/harassing, whichever
you might call it, in front of their stores.  This is simply a matter of
rights.  Specifically, the rights to private property and free
expression/association and these rights are supposedly those basic rights
that Americans believe so deeply in, and that some in the Christian
community say are under continual assault.

The protests and calls for boycotts over this amount to nothing less than
extortion and Target should not cave in.  If anyone feels so strongly about
this that they feel a need to take action, first and foremost they should
invite the SA to raise money on their properties, be it church, office or
home.  That is, after all, demonstrating their support more than a boycott
or protest. Of course, I do recognize the rights of those upset to exercise
their right to freedom of speech and of association, and they are perfectly
within their rights to exercise those by not shopping at Target and
encouraging others to not as well.  But their actions through protest are
basically harming Target while providing no benefit to the SA.  

- Shea Tisdale
 
Every generation has an obligation to improve the world.