Has the word 'terrorist' lost it's meaning?
"YOU CRAZY LIBRUL! HOW DARE YOU QUESTION OUR COUNTRY'S RAIGHT TUH CALL YEW A TURRURYST!!" yup. would agree. I'm also tired of being called a liberal when i disagree...especially when I'm not. And shortly after being called a commie, I'm told to move to another country. I'm seriously thinking about it. I don't wanna be on the recieving end when we piss enough of the world off and every nukes US!
I just got a money order for 1200 dollars and the clerk wanted my social sec. #, is this legal for her to ask?
It's perfectly legal for her to ask. But it is perfectly legal for you not to give it, so its not that big a deal. Basically the place you got it from is just looking for more security in making sure you didn't steal the money and are attempting to launder it. The rule they went with is that for a certain amount of money ($600 appears to be within that set amount), it is probably too small to be a criminal operation and that you must be legit. At a certain amount ($1200 appears to be in that set of numbers), it might be a criminal situation and needs extra checking. Providing your SS# would allow them to help the police track you down if it had turned out to be illegal. Basically the two money orders thing was a bending of the rules by the clerk. Someone going for two money orders of that magnitude should probably have raised a red flag as well. But, she probably never had the reason explained to her, so she did not see a problem in doing it in that way.
Does the U.S. Coast Guard Serve In Combat?
Yes. The Coast Guard has served in combat in EVERY American War. I served in the Coast Guard in the first "Gulf War" and there was definitely a presence. There is even a CG Reserve specialty that deals specifically with port security, and those reservists are only called up in war time, and they are deployed to war zones. I remember the "Grandma" that was out there in the Gulf on a gun boat wearing desert fatigues manning a 50cal doing her Port Security job in the first Gulf War. That's what she signed up for. We celebrated her for it. Yet they have a very important war time job to do here in the States as well, and that is port security and anti-terrorism. It doesn't prevent them from also doing their law enforcement and search and rescue and maritime safety, environmental clean up, fishery enforcement, and INFINITE other missions. The tax payers get their money's worth from the Coast Guard. Most Coastie's that are deployed to war zones do it because they ask to go. Some because of the specialty they choose. There are more requests for deployment than there are jobs available in a war zone for the Coast Guard. They are Homeland Security (They were Dept. of Transportation before Homeland Security was created), but they are also part of the Navy in time of war. They train with the Navy. They are capable of performing Naval wartime missions. The reason they are not Dept. Of Defense is because of their Law Enforcement responsibilities. Can't use the troops to enforce laws in America.