310 20 12614 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. Thursday, November 29, 2001 12:20 PM Kenneth L. Zwick, Director Office of Management Programs, Civil Division U.S. Department of Justice Dear Mr. Zwick: I am writing to urge the adoption of rules that are inclusive of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered people and their families who suffered from the attacks of September 11. The purpose of this Fund should be to provide compensation to ALL individuals who were injured, or to relatives of those who were killed, as a result of the events of September 11th. Individual Comment September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-11-29 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojA000186.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2001-11-29 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. Wednesday, December 19, 2001 8:12 PM gay equality December 19, 2001 Dear Mr. Kenneth Zwick, I write as a member of Amnesty International, a worldwide human rights movement committed to ensuring respect for the basic human rights of people without discrimination, in support of equal access to benefits under the September 11 Victims Relief Fund for all victims, regardless of sexual orientation or marital status. As you know, the United States has committed to uphold international human rights standards, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which prohibit arbitrary discrimination. As you consider rules for administering the relief fund, I ask that you apply basic international human rights standards, and the general principle of equality, by including among relatives eligible for compensation those who lost their life partners, as well as de facto parents or children, without regard to sexual orientation or marital status. The State of New York has already adopted such a policy, granting compensation benefits "on a showing of mutual interdependence with the victim, in recognition that anyone who shared with the victim living expenses, day to day activities and the emotional bonds of family deserves help in this time of need." Many lesbian and gay people were killed in the September 11th attacks. Since then, lesbian and gay surviving partners of those killed have had mixed results in obtaining equal treatment at the local level in the distribution of relief funds by private and state agencies. An inclusive policy on the part of the federal government would help establish an important principle for other such funds. In compensating victims, real justice will be served only when all families - and all types of families - impacted by the human rights tragedy of September 11 are treated with dignity and equality. Thank you for considering my concerns. I look forward to hearing from you about your efforts to ensure that all surviving victims of the September 11 attacks have equal access to the relief fund. Sincerely, Individual Comment Telluride, CO September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-12-19 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojA003780.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2001-12-19 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. December 13, 2001 Special Master Kenneth R. Feinberg September 11th Victim Compensation Fund U.S. Department of Justice 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20530 To Mr. Feinberg: I am writing to urge you to ensure fair treatment for all surviving families of the tragedy on September 11th, including the children and families of low-wage workers and gay and lesbian families. Under traditional rules based on lost wages, the survivors of a bond trader earning millions of dollars per year might receive thousands of times as much compensation as the survivors of a dishwasher in one of the restaurants destroyed. Justice requires looking far beyond the last paycheck to the inherent worth of all those killed, so that a high minimum compensation level is set to lessen the disparities. It would be a double blow to the survivors to first lose their loved one and then watch as most of the taxpayer money went to those who were already well off in the first place. The second major issue has to do with recognizing the legitimacy of gay and lesbian relationships and families. Gay and lesbian families are especially vulnerable when one partner is killed. Because the option of marriage is unavailable, these families may find themselves in the traumatic predicament of having to prove that their union is legitimate. Fortunately both the Red Cross and the State of New York have already announced that they will not discriminate against gay and lesbian families. The Department of Justice should do the same. Thank you for considering my comments. I look forward to hearing how you will act on these very important issues. Sincerely, Individual Comment Amagansetr, NY September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-12-13 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojA001798.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2001-12-13 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. Tuesday, November 06, 2001 1:03 PM Reduce federal funds donations by amt families accept from charities Sir/Madam, I work for a charity (New York City Rescue Mission) which is trying to find appropriate families to provide with monetary contributions, as designated by those who made donations to us. It is challenging for us to find families who we feel will warrant this money, knowing that they may receive much from the governmental and other funds. I believe that families should receive funds from the federal fund, REDUCED by the amount they accept from charities. Many families lose loved ones through tragedies such as fires and murders, and I think some of the money should be used to help those people who are suffering...not just those families affected by the September 11th attacks. Thank you, Individual Comment September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-11-06 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojW000072.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2001-11-06 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. Monday, December 31, 2001 2:10 PM New Vote.com votes as of 02:10 PM EST on December 31st, 2001 Dear September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, Vote.com is the Internet's most popular voting site. Millions of people regularly express their opinions and - in just one click - automatically send their views to important decision makers like you. Here are the latest votes on the question, DOES THE GOVERNMENT'S AID PROGRAM FOR FAMILIES OF SEPT. 11 VICTIMS GO FAR ENOUGH?: YES: 287 votes NO: 15 votes Group Comment September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-12-31 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojN001323.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2001-12-31 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. Tuesday, March 12, 2002 5:39 PM compensation for gays and lesbians Dear Sir/Madam, I find it absolutely appalling that the surviving partners of gays and lesbians killed in the September 11 attacks will receive no compensation. The reasoning behind this decision is faulty and discriminatory. It is especially unfair that even illegal aliens affected by the tragedy will be compensated, but American born non-heterosexuals will not. I am not gay, but I am a feminist and a political activist, and I can assure you that this issue is going to explode. Sincerely, Individual Comment September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-03-12 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojR000498.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-03-12 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. December 13, 2001 Special Master Kenneth R. Feinberg September 11th Victim Compensation Fund U.S. Department of Justice 950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20530 To Mr. Feinberg: I am writing to urge you to ensure fair treatment for all surviving families of the tragedy on September 11th, including the children and families of low-wage workers and gay and lesbian families. Under traditional rules based on lost wages, the survivors of a bond trader earning millions of dollars per year might receive thousands of times as much compensation as the survivors of a dishwasher in one of the restaurants destroyed. Justice requires looking far beyond the last paycheck to the inherent worth of all those killed, so that a high minimum compensation level is set to lessen the disparities. It would be a double blow to the survivors to first lose their loved one and then watch as most of the taxpayer money went to those who were already well off in the first place. The second major issue has to do with recognizing the legitimacy of gay and lesbian relationships and families. Gay and lesbian families are especially vulnerable when one partner is killed. Because the option of marriage is unavailable, these families may find themselves in the traumatic predicament of having to prove that their union is legitimate. Fortunately, both the Red Cross and the State of New York have already announced that they will not discriminate against gay and lesbian families. The Department of Justice should do the same. Thank you for considering my comments. I look forward to hearing how you will act on these very important issues. Sincerely, Individual Comment San Francisco, CA September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-12-13 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojA005225.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2001-12-13 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. Wednesday, December 19, 2001 4:17 PM September 11 Benefits December 19, 2001 Dear Mr. Kenneth Zwick, I write as a member of Amnesty International, a worldwide human rights movement committed to ensuring respect for the basic human rights of people without discrimination, in support of equal access to benefits under the September 11 Victims Relief Fund for all victims, regardless of sexual orientation or marital status. As you know, the United States has committed to uphold international human rights standards, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which prohibit arbitrary discrimination. As you consider rules for administering the relief fund, I ask that you apply basic international human rights standards, and the general principle of equality, by including among relatives eligible for compensation those who lost their life partners, as well as de facto parents or children, without regard to sexual orientation or marital status. The State of New York has already adopted such a policy, granting compensation benefits "on a showing of mutual interdependence with the victim, in recognition that anyone who shared with the victim living expenses, day to day activities and the emotional bonds of family deserves help in this time of need." Many lesbian and gay people were killed in the September 11th attacks. Since then, lesbian and gay surviving partners of those killed have had mixed results in obtaining equal treatment at the local level in the distribution of relief funds by private and state agencies. An inclusive policy on the part of the federal government would help establish an important principle for other such funds. In compensating victims, real justice will be served only when all families - and all types of families - impacted by the human rights tragedy of September 11 are treated with dignity and equality. Thank you for considering my concerns. I look forward to hearing from you about your efforts to ensure that all surviving victims of the September 11 attacks have equal access to the relief fund. Sincerely, Individual Comment Salt Lake City, UT September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-12-19 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojA003515.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2001-12-19 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. Wednesday, December 05, 2001 5:06 PM Victims Compensation Dear Mr. Zwick: I am writing in response to the Department's request for public comments regarding the forthcoming regulations for implementing and administering the "September 11 Victim Compensation Fund." I strongly urge the Department to draft regulations that ensure compensation is available to all victims of the attack, including the committed partners and the non-biological children of gay and lesbian victims. It is unquestionable that the devastating grief and economic losses suffered by the families of gay and lesbian victims are no less than that of other families. Just as the terrorists drew no lines in choosing their victims, our country must draw no lines in compensating those who suffered the most personal of losses from these horrific attacks. Many Americans lost their lives on September 11, each of whom left behind loved ones. I urge the Department to honor these bonds by treating the families of gay and lesbian victims as you would any other. Sincerely, Individual Comment Dallas, Texas September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-12-05 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojA000978.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2001-12-05 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. Wednesday, December 19, 2001 4:34 AM Support Equal Access to Crisis Relief Benefits for Surviving Gay and Lesbian Partners :) December 19, 2001 Dear Mr. Kenneth Zwick, Hello! I write as a member of Amnesty International, a worldwide human rights movement committed to ensuring respect for the basic human rights of people without discrimination, in support of equal access to benefits under the September 11 Victims Relief Fund for all victims, regardless of sexual orientation or marital status. As you know, the United States has committed to uphold international human rights standards, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which prohibit arbitrary discrimination. As you consider rules for administering the relief fund, I ask that you apply basic international human rights standards, and the general principle of equality, by including among relatives eligible for compensation those who lost their life partners, as well as de facto parents or children, without regard to sexual orientation or marital status. The State of New York has already adopted such a policy, granting compensation benefits "on a showing of mutual interdependence with the victim, in recognition that anyone who shared with the victim living expenses, day to day activities and the emotional bonds of family deserves help in this time of need." Many lesbian and gay people were killed in the September 11th attacks. Since then, lesbian and gay surviving partners of those killed have had mixed results in obtaining equal treatment at the local level in the distribution of relief funds by private and state agencies. An inclusive policy on the part of the federal government would help establish an important principle for other such funds. In compensating victims, real justice will be served only when all families - and all types of families - impacted by the human rights tragedy of September 11 are treated with dignity and equality. Thank you for considering my concerns. Viva la e olution! reality I look forward to hearing from you about your efforts to ensure that all surviving victims of the September 11 attacks have equal access to the relief fund. Sincerely, Individual Comment Lakin, KS September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-12-19 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojA002505.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2001-12-19 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. Wednesday, November 28, 2001 2:02 PM Indivisible Nation Dear Attorney General Ashcroft, The deaths on September 11th were the tragic result of an attack on America. Please do not discriminate against the unmarried partners of September 11th victims. They too have suffered painfully because of this event. All unmarried partners, gay or straight, young and old and their dependents should be eligible for compensation. They should not have to suffer from America's economic disparity and discrimination as well. Let us practice being an Indivisible Nation. Sincerely, Individual Comment September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-11-28 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojA000094.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2001-11-28 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. December 18, 2001 Special Master Kenneth R. Feinberg September 11th Victim Compensation Fund U.S. Department of Justice 950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20530 To Mr. Feinberg: I am writing to urge you to ensure fair treatment for all surviving families of the tragedy on September 11th, including the children and families of low-wage workers and gay and lesbian families. Under traditional rules based on lost wages, the survivors of a bond trader earning millions of dollars per year might receive thousands of times as much compensation as the survivors of a dishwasher in one of the restaurants destroyed. Justice requires looking far beyond the last paycheck to the inherent worth of all those killed, so that a high minimum compensation level is set to lessen the disparities. It would be a double blow to the survivors to first lose their loved one and then watch as most of the taxpayer money went to those who were already well off in the first place. The second major issue has to do with recognizing the legitimacy of gay and lesbian relationships and families. Gay and lesbian families are especially vulnerable when one partner is killed. Because the option of marriage is unavailable, these families may find themselves in the traumatic predicament of having to prove that their union is legitimate. Fortunately, both the Red Cross and the State of New York have already announced that they will not discriminate against gay and lesbian families. The Department of Justice should do the same. Thank you for considering my comments. I look forward to hearing how you will act on these very important issues. Sincerely, Individual Comment Seattle, WA September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-12-18 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojA005024.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2001-12-18 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. December 30, 2001 Special Master Kenneth R. Feinberg September 11th Victim Compensation Fund U.S. Department of Justice 950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20530 December 30, 2001 To Mr. Feinberg: I am writing to urge you to ensure fair treatment for all surviving families of the September 11th tragedy, including the children and families of gay and lesbian Americans who perished. That you recognize the sanctity and legitimacy of gay and lesbian relationships and families as you make these crucial decisions is imperative. Gay and lesbian families are especially vulnerable when one partner is killed. Because the option of marriage is largely unavailable, these families often find themselves in the traumatic predicament of having to prove the legitimacy of their union. Both the Red Cross and the State of New York have already announced that they will not discriminate against gay and lesbian families. Our United States Department of Justice must follow suit. As an American, I ask you to keep in mind the gay and lesbian citizen who serve heroically as police, firefighters, soldiers, medical personnel and in other critical occupations. We also must keep in mind the gay and lesbian Americans who donated to the compensation fund trusting that their gift would be distributed without prejudice. It would be unconscionable to dispense their monies while denying the legitimacy, worth and humanity of other gay and lesbian Americans. Thank you for considering my comments. I look forward to hearing how you will act on these very important issues. Sincerely, Individual Comment September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-12-30 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojN002571.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2001-12-30 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. Monday, March 11, 2002 11:02 AM Sept. 11 Benefits I do hope that you will include everyone who lost a loved one in the 9/11 tragedy in your compensation packgage, It would be an utmost outrage and dehumanizing tragedy for you to exclude someone just because they lost a gay partner in the disaster. We are all human beings and americans and we love one another and our country just like everyone, regardless of their sexual preference. Everyone should be compensated with no exclusions. For you to say that you will obide by state law to distribute funds is utterly ridiculous. Please dont make a mockery of human life and the heros who saved flight 93 from causing even more damage and lives. Yours truly, Individual Comment September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-03-11 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojR000159.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-03-11 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. December 14, 2001 VIA FACSIMILE Special Master Kenneth R. Feinberg September 11th Victim Compensation Fund U.S. Department of Justice 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20530 To Mr. Feinberg: I am writing to urge you to ensure fair treatment for all surviving families of the tragedy on September 11th, including the children and families of low-wage workers and gay and lesbian families. Under traditional rules based on lost wages, the survivors of a bond trader earning millions of dollars per year might receive thousands of times as much compensation as the survivors of a dishwasher in one of the restaurants destroyed. Justice requires looking far beyond the last paycheck to the nherent worth of all those killed, so that a high minimum compensation level is set to lessen the disparities. It would be a double blow to the survivors to first lose their loved one and then watch as most of the taxpayer money went to those who were already well off in the first place. The second major issue has to do with recognizing the legitimacy of gay and lesbian relationships and families. Gay and lesbian families are especially vulnerable when one partner is killed. Because the option of marriage is unavailable, these families may find themselves in the traumatic predicament of having to prove that their union is legitimate. Fortunately, both the Red Cross and the State of New York have already announced that they will not discriminate against gay and lesbian families. The Department of Justice should do the same. Thank you for considering my comments. I look forward to hearing how you will act on these very important issues. Very truly yours, Individual Comment CHICAGO, IL September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-12-14 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojA004784.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2001-12-14 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. Thursday, January 17, 2002 2:01 PM RE: Victims Compensation January 13, 2002 President George W. Bush The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 Re: Comments on the Interim Rule of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 Dear President George W. Bush: I am writing to ask for your help to correct two inequities in the Department of Justices Interim Final Rule for the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 that will result in many families receiving no compensation from the fund. This is because (1) the projected economic and non-economic loss figures are unrealistically low; and (2) the Fund reduces any award by the amount of money a victim family receives from a "collateral source." When Congress passed the Air Transportation Safety and System Stabilization Act on September 22, 2001, it severely restricted September 11 victims right to sue the airlines, which bear ultimate responsibility for the tragedy because of lax security procedures. In exchange for denying victims the right to sue, Congress provided the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001. The Fund is supposed to compensate the victims families for the types of losses that would have been recoverable in a lawsuit, but without the burden and delay of litigation. The Interim Rule/Regulation also describes the intention of the law: - "The Fund is designed to provide a no-fault alternative to tort litigation for individuals who were physically injured or killed as a result of the aircraft hijackings and crashes on September 11, 2001 {Interim Rule/Regulation, Summary Paragraph A.1.}. - "The attached regulations have two objectives: (1) To provide fair, predictable and consistent compensation to the victims of September 11 and their families throughout the life of the program; and (2) to do so in an expedited, efficient manner without unnecessary bureaucracy and needless demands on the victims. {Interim Rule/Regulation, Supplementary Information.}. The Interim Final Rule fails to meet the intent of Congress, however, because many victims families will net nothing after collateral source funds are subtracted from the already undervalued economic and non-economic loss projections. The Interim Final Rule understates economic loss by underestimating the lifetime earning potential of victims at all income levels. Noted economists at the National Association of Forensic Economists showed that the Interim Final Rule uses outdated statistics and inappropriate methods to arrive at low estimates of our loved ones future earnings. An analysis done by one of these economists showed that the actual earnings growth for firefighters is 27% higher than the DOJ estimate, the actual earnings growth of all college educated workers is 30% higher than DOJ indicates, and actual earnings growth for financial professionals is more than 100% higher than the DOJ estimate. The Interim Final Rule also falls short of Congresss goals for non-economic loss. The figure for presumed non-economic loss compensation of $250,000 plus an additional $50,000 for the spouse and each dependent is rationalized as being roughly equivalent to the amounts received by public safety officers who were killed while on duty, or members of the military who are killed in the line of duty while serving our nation. With all due respect to such public safety officers and military personnel, they choose to go into harms way and their loss is not the result of corporate negligence. On the other hand, the September 11 victims are victims of negligent airline security. Perhaps more realistic guidance as to the value of non-economic loss can be found in other air crash disaster awards. For example, non-economic losses recovered in other air crash and terrorism cases commonly result in awards of between $2 million and $5 million. A more reasonable projection of non-economic loss is probably somewhere between the current proposal and the historical litigation result. The Interim Final Rule reduces any compensation awards by the amount of any funds received from collateral sources, including life insurance. The Interim Final Rule does this because Congress included such a provision in the Air Transportation Safety and System Stabilization Act. That does not make it fair; that does not make it right. In many states, the law on the collateral source rule has been well settled for over one hundred years. Under that rule, damages recoverable for personal injury or death, caused by the negligence of another, cannot be reduced because of compensation received by proceeds of an insurance policy. This is because the wrongdoer owes full compensation for the injuries inflicted by them and any payment by a collateral source in no way relieves the wrongdoer of their obligation. In this instance, the airlines and others at fault owe full compensation for the injuries resulting from their negligence. Any payment by a collateral source in no way relieves the airlines and others at fault of their obligation. This collateral source rule, which has been a fundamental part of tort victim compensation for over a hundred years, needs to be incorporated into the September 11 Victim Compensation Fund. The Interim Final Rule needs to be adjusted to provide fair, balanced and acceptable economic and non-economic loss projections. The economic loss charts need to be increased and expanded depending upon the deceaseds job field. The non-economic loss amounts also need to be increased into a range that accounts for the tragic way in which these innocent victims died and the shattered lives they left behind. Collateral source recoveries need to be excluded from consideration by the Fund. Without these changes, the intent of Congress will not be fulfilled because there will be no reason for many of the September 11 victim families to participate in the Fund. Without these changes, it will be better for many victim families to take a chance at litigation rather than sign on to a Fund through which they will receive nothing but a waiver of their right to sue. Please rectify these inequities. Give the victim families a reason to participate in this Fund rather than litigate. Change the Interim Final Rule to provide economic and non-economic amounts at fair, balanced and acceptable levels; do not offset Fund awards by collateral source recoveries; establish a fair appeal process. Finally, please include the specific calculation formulas, statistics and assumptions within the rule or the explanatory materials. Sincerely, Individual Comment Kirkland, WA September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-01-17 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojN001944.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-01-17 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. Monday, January 21, 2002 9:45 PM Comments to Victim's Compensation Fund I am told that the DOJ and Kenneth Feinberg have extended the deadline for comments. Mine are attached. My husband was murdered at the WTC on 9/11. To: The US Department of Justice Mr. K. Feinberg From: The first issue that I would like to address is my disgust that the USDOJ is even allowing the public to comment on the rules and regulations of this fund. The US government does not provide a forum for the nation to make personal comments regarding any other expenditure that they make. Why then are they allowing their decision to be impacted by the comments of people who are not personally affected by the fund? The taxpayers would complain about any money that the government wanted to spend on anything if they were only given the chance. This comment period is just an underhanded ploy used by the US government to try to get out of taking responsibility for their inability to protect the victims of 9/11. Using the comments, the DOJ can easily say that public opinion is negative regarding giving victims families a settlement using taxpayer dollars; thus the settlements must be scaled back. Why dont you take comments on how the American people feel about paying millions, if not billions, to feed the people of Afghanistan or to rebuild their country? Why dont you ask them how they feel about paying for attorneys to represent these terrorists in court? The government doesnt care what the public thinks about that because they are going to spend money on it anyway. Why do the American people get to have an opinion now? Because it is in the penny pinching governments interest to be able to say that a group of citizens are opposed to the Fund. I might add that those opposed citizens are in no way affected by the attacks and I am certain that they would change their opinions very quickly if they were directly affected. They also do not know the facts as I do. I believe that the DOJ and Mr. Feinberg need to be reminded of the facts. Allow me… September 11 happened because of the negligence of many, many organizations. Bin Laden planned the attacks, the suicide hijackers carried the plan out, but the US Government, its agencies and private industry allowed these murderers to waltz into this country and have their way with the lives of more than three thousand people…including my husband, the father of our two children. The Immigration Department of this country is the biggest waste of taxpayer money in the history of the country. Clearly they are paper pushers who push paper as fast as they can in order to let masses of people into this country so that they can lose track of them and never even think about checking up on anyone to see if they are complying with the restrictions of their admission into this country. How many of the hijackers were here illegally or were here legally, but were in violation of their admission requirements? Can you count to 19? I can. The FBI and the CIA failed miserably in several ways. The basic lack of knowledge of the attacks is gross given the fact that people were aware of the attacks in advance. In addition, what is this Watch List and who is watching the people on it? Apparently no one is since Atta was on the list and he boarded a commercial airliner without being stopped or being asked a single question. Why is the Watch List not automated with airline ticketing systems so that passengers are flagged if they are on the Watch List? Simple technology could have stopped the first plane that hit the towers…maybe that would have stopped them all? Atta should have missed his flight because the CIA and FBI should have been swarming him at the gate…he was on the watch list and he bought his airline ticket in his own name. He did not even try to sneak by security because he knew that our defenses are so weak that he didnt need to use a false name. The FAA failed by not teaming up with the intelligence agencies of this nation to make sure that they had the appropriate information about the watch list and by not imposing more stringent security measures on all commercial airliners. Other, less developed nations have much better security measures to protect the people who fly their airlines. It is a disgrace that the flying public of the United States is essentially unprotected. Only now that four planes were hijacked in one day are measures being talked about to improve the safety of airline passengers. Still, four months later, no sweeping changes have been made. The FAA is the regulatory agency for the airline industry and is the watchdog for the public when it comes to their safety on planes. Their job is to be proactive in their work, but unfortunately for over three thousand people, they are reactive. Can no one plan for the worst or is blissful ignorance a way of life at the FAA? The FAA is taking measures to protect us now that terrorists have taught them what to change. The FAA should be teaching terrorists that they cannot take over a commercial airplane in this country. They should have been implementing measures to protect the public before a tragedy happened, not just in response to it. The Airlines and their security agencies are clearly inept at protecting their passengers. I dont think that there is any dispute about that. The Victims Compensation Fund had to be created because the government knew that the airlines, at least United and American, would cease to exist if lawsuits were filed against them. That in itself speaks to the strength of the victims cases against the airlines. If they didnt need protecting then the government would not be protecting them. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey built buildings that were unable to be protected by the fire departments of New York because the NYFD has no air support for fire. All the NYPD could do was fly a helicopter around and look at the people who were trapped inside while the NYFD ran up the stairwells to their deaths. The structure of the buildings made them susceptible to collapse when there was an explosion and subsequent fire. Firefighters cannot be expected to climb 92 floors and fight a fire with only the equipment on their backs. Even if they had gotten to the fire, what would they have done? They need water to put out a fire. No matter how the fire started, there was no way to fight it from the air and any explosion and fire on the upper floors could have resulted in the same fate, although maybe not as quickly as on 9/11. Anyone trapped near or above the fire would have perished just as so many did with my husband on 9/11. In this respect, the City of New York and whatever City agency that knowingly approves the construction of a building that cannot be protected from an explosion and fire is negligent as well. In essence the Fund protects all of the above parties. Families of victims who opt for the fund forfeit their constitutional right to pursue litigation against ANY American agency, corporation, city, or company. Add to that the fact that the government has, unconstitutionally, placed very restrictive caps on the amount of liability that any potentially negligent party can be held accountable for. Let me repeat, very restrictive caps. So much so that the option of litigation against those parties would leave the victims with no compensation. In a nutshell, the government has taken away the victims families rights to pursue any litigation to obtain financial compensation for the death of their family members. The government has protected every possible negligent party and left families with no rights and an insulting option for compensation…the Fund. Insulting because it is totally impersonal. Feinberg says, fill out your forms, check the charts, deduct your collateral sources and have a good day. Insulting because the amounts that Feinberg has come up with for compensating the families are nowhere near the amounts that the families would have gotten if they had been able to pursue their Constitutional Right to the legal system of this country. The bases for his computation of the numbers are not backed by the procedures used in the courts of this country. They are Feinbergs arbitrary attempt to play God. May I remind him here that he is not. Any court in the nation would look at future earnings using economists to project the anticipated earnings of an individual over his/her lifetime. Any economist in the country will tell you that looking at an individuals' past three years earnings is not an accurate way to predict potential FUTURE earnings. Feinberg knows all of this…he has been involved with the legal system of this nation for many years…however he chooses to ignore it because he is trying to find the cheapest way for the government to shirk their responsibility to the people who perished on 9/11. The government has a responsibility because they were negligent and thousands died because of that negligence. Feinberg has a responsibility to step up to the plate and do the right thing, not the politically correct thing. At this point he has not left the locker room. Insulting because it is just a small part of an act that was created with the more important objective of saving the airline industry. The Victims Compensation section of the Bill is listed as Section IV out of a total of five sections. It is preceded by the sections that involve a group that the government clearly feels a greater responsibility to…the airline industry. How many Americans know that the bill is titled the Air Transportation Safety and System Stabilization Act? The Victims Compensation Fund is just a small part of a much larger government effort to protect the airline industry. In order to protect the airlines, it is necessary for someone else to take on the liability for the airlines negligence. The government chose to protect the airlines and foot the bill for that liability…they wrote this bill and dropped $15 billion into the airlines laps within weeks of 9/11. The basis of Feinbergs job is rooted in the Airline bailout, not in the interest of the victims families. Insulting because it strays so far from the practices of our legal system. No court in the country adjusts a settlement by collateral sources. No court in the country places an arbitrary, set figure on Pain and Suffering, Loss of Consortium, Loss of Enjoyment of Life, Loss of Companionship, and Loss of a Parent. No court in the country looks at past earnings as a relevant indicator of future earnings. The list goes on and on. Why are these victims not given the same consideration of the law that every other citizen gets? Because the government wants to protect the airlines and do it as cheaply as possible? The victims of this tragedy are being treated as an afterthought that needs to be swept under the rug as quickly and as inexpensively as possible by Feinberg. He is trying to meet that goal. If this Fund is not changed then the whole purpose of creating it will be defeated. The families of these American, taxpaying citizens who died because of what they did for a living, driving the American economy, will not allow the government to insult the memories of their loved ones. These people were killed, not because they worked in the World Trade Center, but because they made the World Trade Center. If the World Trade Center buildings had housed libraries or schools or medical offices or any other industry, they would still be standing. The buildings were targeted, not because they were tall, but because of the successful, driven people who filled them. Those people represented the driving force behind the nations economy and their presence in those buildings made the buildings a symbol of our nations economic power, not the other way around. My husband was murdered because of his career, a career that symbolizes strength and wealth and power, qualities that our nation represents. He was a symbol of the very things that these terrorists hate about our country, he died for it, and the government allowed it to happen. These are the facts. I cannot believe that the families of these people will accept the meager offering that Feinberg proposes. He has professed to know that no family should need more that X dollars. He does not know what my children need. Our legal system is the only method that this country has for determining that number and the government, through this Fund, is trying to make us believe that the court system is no longer available to us. If this Fund is not modified drastically then I believe that many families will fight ALL of the decisions that the government is trying to impose on us. The Fund will become a useless instrument. We have rights. We have a Constitution. We have motivation. We have strength in numbers. We have a legal system that will respect us. We will not lie down and allow the US Government to ignore the facts and insult our loved ones. I cannot accept this Fund as it is written and I believe that many families feel the same. You have wasted a lot of time and taxpayer dollars creating this Fund if none of us, or very few, take advantage of it. And you will have failed in your mission to protect the airlines. It may take more time for us, but this will not be the way that the United States government pays its liability to my husband. I will not tell my children that I accepted this paltry settlement for their fathers life because it was simple. September 11 taught me that life is no longer simple. I do not expect that to change anytime soon. Fighting the system to get respect for my husbands life will not be simple, but he is worth whatever it takes. I have a lifetime left to do just that if you force me to. Bear in mind that multiple parties are liable, whether you acknowledge it publicly or not. Make the Fund a realistic source of compensation. Base it on the legal practices of our court system. Individual Comment September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-01-21 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojN002199.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-01-21 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. Tuesday, March 19, 2002 9:02 PM I am very disturbed that the persons in charge of the government's victim compensation fund have decided to exclude and/or discriminate against those families/partners of the victims who were gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered. This is NOT the time or place to begin drawing lines in the sand as to who should or should not be recognized as grieving family/partners because of state legal definitions! Please reconsider your decision and leave politics out of the equation! All who died on September 11th are US victims. Do not victimize the families/partners of gay/lesbian victims by refusing to compensate in some small way, the tremendous loss that they suffer. Thank you, Individual Comment Omaha, NE September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-03-19 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojR002267.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-03-19 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. Saturday, March 23, 2002 11:09 AM Response to the final ruling. I am shocked and dismayed that my government has decided that unborn children and illegal aliens have more rights in this country than gay men and women. The response, that it was left up to state law to make this determination is a crock. State law does not give rights to unborn children for the purpose of compensation nor inheritance. State law does not give rights which supercede federal law concerning illegal aliens. This is discrimination pure and simple. Today, I'm ashamed to be an American and will not only vote to remove those from office who act this way but will, for the first time, contribute money to their removal from office and will actively campaign for their removal from office. Every day the cankerous religious right sounds more and more like Osama Bin Ladin and the government sucks up to them and sounds more and more like the Third Reich. Heil Bush Some men see things as they are and say "why?". I dream things that never were and say "why not?". - Robert Kennedy Individual Comment September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-03-23 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojR002656.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-03-23 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. Thursday, December 20, 2001 4:34 PM JUSTICE for ALL Attachment 1: Dear Mr. Zwick: I am writing in response to the Department's request for public comments regarding the forthcoming regulations for implementing and administering the "September 11 Victim Compensation Fund." I strongly urge the Department to draft regulations that ensure compensation is available to ALL victims of the attack, including the committed partners and the non-biological children of gay and lesbian victims. Now more than ever, we have come to learn the larger meaning of FAMILY. The victims were emotional and financially responsible to their families, regardless if those families were headed by two men or two women. I understand that it becomes complicated to determine the status of relationships between partners and their children - but just because that might be hard to realize on paper using our social standards doesn't mean that people should be denied the same benefits as other survivors. It is unquestionable that the devastating grief and economic losses suffered by the families of gay and lesbian victims are no less than that of other families. Just as the terrorists drew no lines in choosing their victims, our country must draw no lines in compensating those who suffered the most personal of losses from these horrific attacks. Many Americans lost their lives on September 11, each of whom left behind loved ones. I urge the Department to honor these bonds by treating the families of gay and lesbian victims as you would any other. Let the government show the surviving children of gay and lesbain parents that there are no differences between us all. One of the ways that we rise above the sheer evil and horror of September 11 is to treat one another with infinite compassion and respect. Please do not allow our government to limit the compassion and respect deserved by each and every life directly touched by tragedy. Sincerely, Individual Comment Seattle, WA September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-12-20 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojN000029.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2001-12-20