see my post #54 as to why the salvation army was banned.
If you want to blame someone, blame activist judges making bad court decisions. Target has been holding out for years and putting their business at risk. They are not the villians here, but some wish to make them the villians, because they are an easy target.
Target has not been putting its business at risk by having bell ringers. In fact, if they truly wanted to get rid of the Salvation Army, the best way to do it was to just wait for a suit. They could quickly settle and agree to ban all solicitations. That is not what is happening.
What is going on is that Target is beginning to think that their very public support of the Salvation Army may be costing it customers, hence their decision to end the exception.
Other retailers disagree with them. I find it interesting that Target made its decision in January, well before the election of 2004 and the sudden realization that Christian America is indeed alive and well. The other retailers now publically calling for bell ringers have the benefit of seeing the reelection of President Bush.
The whole issue here is one of public relations, and Target is blowing it big time.
BTW I did not blame anyone, but if I did, it would not be liberal justices, it would be an America that refuses to stand up to their excesses.