To Ana, a Descendant of Hal, at Target

Remember Hal, in Arthur Clarke's extraordinary science fiction novel, Space Odyssey?

by Charlie Leck

Ana, at Target, replied to my recent letter very much in HAL like language and thought process. It was like unsatisfactory sexual intercourse, this letter from Ana, leaving me feeling frustrated and quite empty. HAL, you may remember, stood for "Heuristically programmed Algorithmic computer intelligence." Hal turned out to be a mean son-of-a-bitch and tried to kill all the crew aboard the spacecraft, Discovery.

Ana, it appears, runs targets Guest Relations Department (GURD) much like HAL ran Discovery -- that is, without feeling or sentiment. I had written a completely coherent and intelligent letter, if you don't mind me saying so myself, to Target's CEO about the misuse of my money within his corporation. Ana's reply was cold, sterile and off-point. I had to reply to her and I'll share that letter with you here.

August 20, 2010

Ana
Target Guest Relations
1000 Nicollet Mall
Minneapolis, MN 55403

Dear Ana:

Thank you for your reply to my letter, Ana; however, you missed the point I was trying to make in my letter to your Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Greg Steinhaffel. I do feel as if I am probably writing to a computer – you know like Hal, the controlling computer aboard the spacecraft, Discovery One, in Space Odyssey, but you probably are too young to remember any of that, Ana.

My letter to your boss had nothing to do with your company’s civic activity or human and individual rights. I appreciate all your lofty comments about that, but it isn’t what I wrote to you about.

Ana I was talking about my money and your company’s profits. Don’t you understand that they are very much co-mingled? Complex for a computer, I know, but I’ll try to explain how it works in the retail business world. Here’s how it works! I spend money at Target. Target makes profits off of the money I and millions of other people spend at Target. You give a portion of those profits away to political candidates. Ergo, Ana, a portion of what you are giving away is my money.

I don’t want my money to go to political candidates, Ana – especially to political candidates as stupid, arrogant and low-down mean as Tom Emmer. So, Ana, it gets me angry and upset. I want you to get that money back.

I have no intention of spending money in your store as long as you have a policy of making political contributions. Now, Ana, don’t play me for a fool by telling me you actually gave it to an organization that promotes Minnesota’s business development. We are both adults here, Ana, and we can speak frankly. That’s a lot of bull!

I’ll send a copy of this letter along to Mr. Steinhafel, Ana. Perhaps he has a regular, human brain and can figure out the logic here. I’ll try to make him understand what my old man taught me decades ago: Don’t give money to political candidates if you are a retail business.

Thanks, Ana.

Sincerely,

Charles H. Leck

cc: Mr. Greg Steinfafel, CEO, Target Corp

Folks, you should be writing your own letters to Target. You may write to Greg Steinhafel, Target's CEO, at the following address:
1000 Nicollet Mall
Minneapolis, MN 55403

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Continuing to Target Target

I wrote to Target’s CEO last week and got back a form letter from Target Guest Relations!
by Charlie Leck

My personal boycott of Target Stores has continued. In these last few weeks, we’ve spent a few hundred dollars elsewhere that we would normally have spent at Target. Last week, I wanted to let Target’s CEO know just how much money I usually spent in Target Stores in a year’s period, so I wrote to him.

August 10, 2010

Mr. Greg Steinhafel, Chief Executive Officer
Target Corp
1000 Nicollet Mall
Minneapolis, MN 55403

Dear Mr. Steinhafel:

I have been shopping at Target Stores for years. My wife shops there. My grown children, because they always shopped with me at Target Stores when they were at home, also shop at Target. I’ve regularly bought gift cards there for special occasion gifts and for holiday gifts – dozens of them every year and not at small denominations. Recently bought a flat screen TV there. My wife likes to stop at the Waconia, Minnesota Target Store on her way home from work to pick up necessities.

I’ve stopped shopping at Target and I’ve asked my kids to do the same. My wife is hesitant, but I keep imploring her.

I consider it my money that you gave to Tom Emmer recently. Certainly, it was a share of my money.

Tom Emmer lives out here near us. He’s not a good person even though he professes to be a Bible toting Christian. He doesn’t pay his bills and he speaks with a forked tongue.

My father was a retailer all his life. He always felt that those in retail businesses should be very personal and quiet about their politics. He was right, of course. Target should follow my father’s example.

I’ll resume shopping at Target only when you ask for that $150,000 contribution back. You’re not going to get any more of my money to give away to politicians of either party.

Sincerely,

Charles H. Leck

Somehow, and for some reason, I got two exactly duplicate letters back from Ana, in Target’s Guest Services Department. They were form letters, sitting there and ready to go as a way of answering letters such as mine. The letter didn’t deal with the subject of my letter at all – that Target was using my money to make political contributions. It dealt instead with the question of respecting sexual preferences and basic human rights.

“At Target, we are fully committed to fostering an environment that supports and respects the rights and beliefs of all individuals.”

This wasn’t good enough for me. I want to hear from Greg Steinhafel himself. Maybe he could forego his round of golf this week in order to take the time to write to me.

DON’T SHOP AT TARGET! Corporations shouldn’t meddle in politics no matter what the current Supreme Court says.

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Target Ain't People

Target is seeing only the beginning of this protest movement!
by Charlie Leck

This one is just too, too great not to pass it along to you. It's a video of a protest held recently at a local Target Store. It's nothing but pure fun and the demonstrators are pretty creative, too.

Be sure to watch it!

And, get into the swing of it.

Get Serious about Target

My wife didn’t think I was serious about boycotting Target, but I am!
by Charlie Leck

Want to read some intriguing stuff about Target’s CEO, Gregg Steinhafel? If so, go to this blog posted on 9 August 2010 at The AWL. It’s terribly interesting reading and may give you some insight into the kind of person Steinhafel is and why he might support a nut-case like Tom Emmer.

Abe Sauer put together the following list about Tom Emmer, GOP candidate for Governor in Minnesota:

• Authored a bill saying Minnesotans "had no constitutional right to abortion."
• Co-authored a bill required Minnesota students to learn about the "free-market economic" "world view of America's founders" and "American or Minnesota state history or heritage based on religious references."
• Defines marriage as "the union between one man and one woman"
• Wouldn't require pharmacists to fill prescriptions for contraceptives

This whole constitutional amendment business, which would declare Minnesotans "sovereign individuals" and require a two-thirds majority in the state legislature to put federal laws into effect. (Last time someone tried something like this, we had a war.)

Well, this is not the end of it folks. Steinhafel, according to Gay Rights, has also personally contributed the maximum allowed to a Minnesotan even whackier than Tom Emmer – the one and only Representative Michele Bachmann.

Folks, don’t shop at Target!
Find some small businessman and spend your money with him. Let’s make Target feel the pain by boycotting their stores.

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DON’T SHOP AT TARGET

I don’t often put my titles in caps; however, I do when I’m angry as hell!
by Charlie Leck

Let’s be very clear here. Lots of you want to know exactly why I’m boycotting Target Stores. The answer is simple. I’ve spent plenty of money there. They made a political donation to a candidate who I think is a bum and a jerk and he would be a disaster if elected. I see it as my money that Target is giving to that campaign. I don’t want my money, spent at Target, being given to political candidates. Don’t give money to any candidates! Get it? I said ANY candidates. My father was in the retail business and he taught me that lesson early in my life.

Target, it is simple as that. Why don’t you get it?

If you agree, this message came in from MoveOn.Org. It directs you to a place where you can sign a petition and announce your intention to boycott Target. Do it!

The Minneapolis-based retailer Target just gave over $150,000 to buy ads supporting state Rep. Tom Emmer, a far-right Republican candidate for governor. This makes Target one of the very first companies to take advantage of the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision allowing unlimited corporate cash in elections. Target must think customers won't care. They're wrong: We do care, and we need to let them know that we want Target -- and all corporations -- out of our elections. Can you join me in sending a message to Target's CEO at the link below?http://pol.moveon.org/state/target/?r_by=-4150353-l0Lcqsx&rc=paste

Target must be starting to squirm. I hope CEO Gregg Steinhafel is! He’s opening a store in Harlem on Saturday. There will be plenty of protestors there. Soon he’ll open a couple of stores in the very progressive city of San Francisco. That will draw attention too.

If you want to make an important statement, boycott Target. Thanks!

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