700 20 70359 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 14, 2002 6:27 PM Re: Flight 93 Victim-Comment on Interim Regulations for 9/11 Victim Compensation Our firm represents the widow of a passenger who died on United Airlines flight 93. We object to the provisions of section 104.47(a) of your Interim Regulations to the extent that section treats proceeds of privately paid for life insurance as "collateral source compensation" as a reduction to the amount of compensation available to eligible claimants under the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund of 2001. The claimant and her deceased husband paid all of the premiums for their private insurance policy coverage in a financially prudent manner over the life of these policies. They should not be penalized for doing so in regard to participation in the 9/11 Fund, as compared to other victims who were not so financially responsible prior to 9/11 , and who did not pay for such insurance, but who end up being covered by the Fund for failing to do so. Furthermore, the inclusion of this provision in the Regulations acts as a disincentive for insured victims' surviving spouses and dependents to waive their private litigation claims and participate in the Fund. Instead, this provision promotes private litigation alternatives, which quickly become more attractive than waiver of those litigation rights by participation in the Victims Fund program. As one of the objectives of this program is to eliminate or reduce a plethora of private litigation, this provision should be removed to restore a broad incentive to participate in this Fund. Finally, the tort laws generally applicable in these private litigation situations do not require plaintiffs to reduce their claims by the amount of private insurance received by them. Your regulations should be consistent with those principles of normal tort law. As an alternative to eliminating this reduction for private insurance proceeds, if that is not agreeable to you, you should definitely have an attractive significant minimum sum which a surviving spouse and each eligible dependent of a victim can receive by Fund participation, which is not to be reduced by any "collateral source compensation" which may also be available to victims' spouses and dependents. Individual Comment Palo Alto, CA September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-01-14 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 dojN001600.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. 2002-01-14 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. 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 Honolulu,HI 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 dojA004730.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, March 20, 2002 1:49 AM Horrified by your Discrimination Dear administrators, Your actions to discriminate against gay and lesbian survivors is outrageous. THEY were AMERICANS first. Their SURVIVORS are AMERICANS. Your actions manifests suffering and conduct that is reprehensible and against the foundations that this country stands for and for which we are waging this WAR. Where is the compassion? Where is the sense of oneness? Please change this rule and stop this narrow political force of discrimination. Thanks, Individual Comment San Francisco CA September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-03-20 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 dojR002293.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. 2002-03-20 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 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. Friday, December 21, 2001 4:44 PM Please support equal treatment. December 21, 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 Isla Vista, CA September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-12-21 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 dojN000582.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. 2001-12-21 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. Wednesday, December 19, 2001 11:08 AM equal treatment 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 San Francisco, CA 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 dojA003063.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. Tuesday, November 06, 2001 11:01 AM Suggestion Perhaps victims' families should only be allowed to submit bills to the fund, and the fund would pay those bills directly. Charities should work the same way. That way, expenses could not be submitted to both. I wrote a check to charity, and don't feel that it should be disregarded when compensating victim's families from the fund. 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 dojW000093.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. Sunday, March 17, 2002 4:26 PM discrimination I would like to share my opinion on a sensitive subject. According to his article there is a horrific discrimination that is taking place in our country; the 9/11 fund. [Read this article for complete details about how the Fund is discriminating against gays: http://uspolitics.about.com/library/weekly/aa031102a.htm ] All affected Americans deserve a fair portion of this fund without discrimination. It shouldn't matter whether they ar purple or yellow, male or female, gay or heterosexual. If illegal aliens are entitled to help (even though they and their employers are breaking the law) why can't he homosexual population recieve the same benefits? It just doesn't mae sense to me! Individual Comment Downingtown, Pa September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-03-17 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 dojR001477.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. 2002-03-17 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. Friday, November 09, 2001 7:00 PM Victim Compensation I'm having trouble with my emails so you may already have one from Please review my suggestion. I know it won't carry any weight, but it feels good to "think" I'm participating. God Bless, Attachment 1: Victimcomp.comments@usdoj.gov I do not know the amount set-aside for the 911 Victims in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington. However, rates of payment should be based on Current Annual Middle Individual-Income level. Those who earned less than the National Average would probably have not covered themselves with life insurance or only with a low amount. Nor might they have been working in jobs that provided employer paid medical insurance or Worker's Compensation, pensions and the like. Pensions, Charity Awards and Workers Compensation, Life, Medical or business or State Disability insurance, and Social Security should "not" have to be exhausted in order to receive the benefit from the government. Therefore, the victims in the higher income brackets who have these things will not appear to be penalized. I have not seen that people cannot sue any other entity. Many businesses in and around the World Trade Center are gone, or reduced. Yet there is the potential for victims or their heirs to sue. These awards should also not have to be exhausted in order to collect the government award. This is a payment made on behalf of the airlines, which would otherwise be liable regardless of any other of these compensations. Victim Compensation should be considered a "minimal supplement" to their Loss of Income. It is meant to help the families meet the financial challenge of losing a provider through death or through disability (based on a typical insurance company schedule for disability or dismemberment/disfigurement, and medical expenses not covered by insurance) in their household. As long as you are bailing out the airlines, the limit per beneficiary should be modeled after no more than the middle individual-income base. However, where the victim who died is a child up to age 18, (or college students to age 25) it would be assumed they had not been a primary contributor to a household, yet a compensation should be awarded. It would seem the minimum amount (1 year income) on the schedule would still be awarded as there are expenses with burial and some family members may not have had paid bereavement days through their employers. This is the case where humanity is applied to show some value to the grief. Those injured, yet not disabled or disfigured, should also receive compensation for time lost at work, plus medical expenses not covered by insurance. Example: the Middle-Individual-Income Adjusted rate x hours missed ($14.37 x 120 hours = $1,724.40 and out-of-pocket medical expenses). Assumption: * 20 years old would have a projected income for 45 years (to age 65) · Annual National Average is somewhere near $28,000 ($13.46/hr.) · Insurance premium for medical coverage (employer paid portion, i.e., 80%) of perhaps $.91/hour ($200 mo. x 80% /2080) * TOTAL Adjusted First Year income: $29,889.60 ($14.37/hr.) * .03 projected increase per year (or whatever the national average on increases actually is): Table shows simplified increments: 1-year (Minimum): $ 29,889.60 5-year: $128,798.35 10-year: $312,761.17 20-year: $773,255.15 30-year: $1,392,120.55 40-year: $2,223,823.89 45-year (Maximum): $2,741,469.97 Payment for a Death would require an amount adjacent to the number of years they would have lived before the 65-year retirement age, but "not less" than $29,889.60 (that would cover those past the retirement age). If Joe and Mary Smith were each 35 years old and died in the event, their heirs would be entitled to a total of $2,784,240 (2 x the 30-year rate). Which, if deposited and accrued .04 interest/year, it would provide $111,369 interest income a year on which to live, the equivalent of each earning $55,684/year. If they follow this method of preserving their award, the first year of annual income will then be near twice the National Middle-Income level, while maintaining the original award amount. I believe this would be fair since the beneficiaries would be signing away the right to sue the airlines for wrongful death, malpractice, pain and suffering, unsafe conditions, and etc. If you do not have $12+ Billion, use the Minimum Wage scenario because that amount is the "least any citizen could have earned": Assumption: * 20 years old would have a projected income for 45 years (to age 65) · Annual Minimum Wage is somewhere near $13,000 ($6.25/hr.) · Insurance premium (employer paid) of perhaps $.91/hour (Employee only, paid at 80% of full medical premium by employer) * Total first year income: $14,892 * .03 increase projected per year: Table shows simplified increments: 1-year (Minimum): $ 14,892 5-year: $64,175 10-year: $155,836 20-year: $385,282 30-year: $693,638 40-year: $1,108,043 45-year (Maximum): $1,365,965 In this scenario, Joe and Mary Smiths heirs would receive $1,387,276. Which, if deposited and accrued .04 interest/year, would provide $55,491 interest income a year on which to live, the equivalent of each earning $27,745.50/year. If they follow this method of preserving their award, the annual income will then be near the National Middle-Income level the first year while maintaining the original award amount. It will have allowed the beneficiaries who would otherwise not have received Workers Compensation, Pensions, Charity Awards and Life, Medical or Disability insurances, or had the ability to sue the airlines, that extra margin of relief. If you use a formula similar to one of these ideas, drop me a line. Id like to know my idea was a good one. Thank you, Individual Comment September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-11-09 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 dojW000295.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. 2001-11-09 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 1:58 PM partners of gay or lesbian victims Is it true that you will be denying benefits to partners of gay or lesbian victims and heroes? &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp , who helped bring down the plane in Pennsylvania, and NYFD &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp , were both openly gay. They courageously risked and lost their lives trying to save the lives of others in this hideous disaster. Just like hundreds of brave people did. But these peoples have partners and families who will receive some benefit from you. If you have decided to exclude life partners of the gay men and lesbians who perished in this attack, I ask you to please reconsider. Thank you. Individual Comment Chicago, IL 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 dojR000466.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. Monday, December 03, 2001 12:18 PM Sept 11 Victim Compensation Fund I wish to express my conviction that the Dept. of Justice should adminster the "September 11 Victim Compensation Fund" in a way that includes gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered persons and their loved ones. We all suffered on that day, regardless of our gender or sexual orientation. Common decency should not prevent us from recognizing this basic fact. Thank you. Individual Comment Minneapolis, MN September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-12-03 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 dojA000277.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. 2001-12-03 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. Friday, December 28, 2001 8:30 AM With deep concern December 28, 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 Mount Vernon, ME September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-12-28 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 dojN001058.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. 2001-12-28 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. Tuesday, March 19, 2002 10:09 AM Gays and Lesbians discriminated against by 9/11 fund To whom it may concern; I, as an American citizen am completely appalled at the Attorney General and 9/11 funds discrimination against American citizens, while allowing those who are in the country illegally to collect benifits. Unfortunately, I am not at all surprised. Although every national poll has shown that a clear majority of American citizens believe that homosexuals deserve the same rights as every other American citizen; the conservative right-wing branch of the Republican party has used the marginalization of gay people as a rallying cry for too many years to stop it now. They even marginalized Barry Goldwater in his later years because he felt that gays as American citizens should have the same rights as eveybody else. I believe that every person who contributed to the 9/11 fund who does not agree with the Feinberg ruling on homosexuals should immediately file suit against the US government to get their contribution back. Sincerely; Individual Comment 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 dojR002082.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. Tuesday, December 18, 2001 3:01 PM Reply to Special Master Kenneth R. Feinberg, with regard to your message, do remmember to make this "commitment" you speack of not only "efficient, simple, and fair" but a democratic one, one of liberty and justice for ALL! Sincerely, Individual Comment Miami, FL 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 dojA002196.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 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 Providence, RI 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 dojA002594.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, April 02, 2002 8:38 AM From a taxpayer Hello, I pay taxes and would like to receive the same benefits as other taxpayers in this country. Likewise, I would hope that the taxpayers that lost their partners in the bombing would receive the same consideration. Please don't talk out of both sides of your mouth on this one. You deny us the right to marry, and then say that we cannot receive benefits because our relationship is not as meaningful since we are not married. Please THINK. Individual Comment Louisville, KY September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-04-02 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 dojR002869.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. 2002-04-02 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. Sunday, March 17, 2002 12:39 PM Some American heroes more 'equal' than others To the administrators of the Victim Compensation Fund: I want to take this opportunity as a patriotic American citizen to say that I am outraged that gay and lesbian partners of those who died on September 11 are not automatically going to receive the same benefits as heterosexual spouses. I have learned that the head of your fund, a fund created by Congress to help the families of those who died on September 11, has made it clear that the partners of gay and lesbian heroes of September 11 will not necessarily receive the same benefits as the spouses of heterosexual victims of the horrible terror attacks. It also appears that illegal aliens will also be receiving benefits under this program, and that federal law will be overlooked with the illegally resident families of illegal aliens who were killed on 9/11 being compensated instead of deported. It also appears that American companies who hired illegal aliens killed on 9/11 will not be punished for being in direct violation of federal labor laws. But when it comes to the heroes of that tragic day who happen to be gay or lesbian such as... who helped bring down the flight in Pennsylvania before it could reach its target, or New York Fire Dept. who died in the line of duty when the first tower fell, or who was of the plane that crashed into the (there are many more)... we are told the law is the law and no exceptions can be made. The truth is that our patriotism and love of country transcend our differences and unite us all. We were told that September 11 was the day that "hyphenated-Americans" were no more, and rather than being Italian-Americans, African-Americans or gay-Americans, we were now simply Americans, all of us together as one American family. When our government wants to use our heroism to inspire others the hyphens conveniently don't exist, but when it comes time to actually aid the families and loved ones of those heroes, the hyphens magically reappear, with some American heroes being more equal than others. In my opinion, this policy is outrageous and un-American. For those readers who are interested in the complete details about how the Fund is discriminating against gay and lesbian partners of the 9/11 heroes, please visit the website: Individual Comment September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-03-17 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 dojR001410.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. 2002-03-17 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. December 14, 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 Finland, MN 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 dojA004575.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 10:25 AM 9/11 Victim Comp. Fund January 17, 2002 Kenneth L. Zwick, Director Office of Management Programs Civil Division U.S. Department of Justice Main Building, Room 3140 950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20530 Re: Comments to September 11 Victim Compensation Fund of 2000 Interim Final Rule Dear Mr. Zwick: I am a partner in the Stamford, Connecticut law firm &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp . I was pleased to learn that the Special Master recently opened an office on Atlantic Street in Stamford. As you may know, our community is a mere 25 miles from Manhattan. Many people in the greater-Stamford area commute daily to New York City. As a result, ours is among the many communities that have suffered immensely as result of the attacks of September 11, and our firm represents several victims of these attacks. Each faces a decision concerning whether to take advantage of the Victim's Compensation Fund ("Fund"), and we are attempting to counsel them in connection with this decision. I have reviewed the Interim Final Rule and its enabling legislation, and write to offer the following comments and questions, which I ask that the Special Master consider in promulgating the Final Rule. Let me begin by expressing my admiration and gratitude for the work that your office done to date, under difficult circumstances. In my estimation, the Interim Final Rule resolves many thorny issues fairly and thoughtfully. However, the Interim Final Rule also leaves unanswered many questions of widespread application concerning matters such as the calculation of income and the treatment of potential collateral source reductions. Among them: 1. Determination of Presumed Economic Loss for Decedents. Section 104.43 directs the Special Master to evaluate the victim' s income history and specifically states that "The decedent's salary/income in 1998 - 2000 shall be evaluated in a manner that the Special Master deems appropriate. The Special Master may, if he deems appropriate, take an average of income figures for each of those three years." A great many of the victims were professionals in their mid-thirties who were undoubtedly just hitting their strides, career-wise. At this time of life many individuals make the leap from junior management to more senior management positions. For example, it would be most unfair to look to a three year average income figure in the case of an executive who had in the year of death just received a big promotion and raise. The overwhelming likelihood is that a young person who had achieved such professional success would continue to succeed. To apply a three year average "rule" in such a situation is tantamount to assuming that the victim would not or could not maintain his or her current position. While it is certainly helpful to claimants to know what factors the Special Master might take into account in assessing income, it is critical that the three year averaging "rule" not be woodenly applied. 2. Determination of presumed non-economic losses for decedents. Section 104.44 states that the presumed non-economic loss shall be $250,000 "plus an additional $50,000 for the spouse and each dependent." The $250,000 figure is a fraction of what the victim's family might receive in a civil suit. If a purpose of the Fund is to induce victims' families to forego litigation against the airlines, consideration should be given to increasing the "base" award for non-economic loss to a more realistic number. 3. Amount of Compensation. Section 104.41 provides, in part, that "In no event shall an award (before collateral source compensation has been deducted) be less than $500,000.". There is still considerable uncertainty as to how the deduction for collateral source payment is going to be applied. That being the case, to alleviate some of the victims' uncertainty -- and also as an inducement to participation in the federal fund rather than a civil suit -- the Rule should be revised to provide for a minimum award size that would be determined without regard to the amount of collateral source compensation. The Special Master has recently been quoted by the media as suggesting that he would exercise his discretion to be sure that each claimant received an award of at least $250,000. I would suggest that the minimum award size must be at least twice that amount to make it economically rational for the families of those victims who were prudent enough to insure their lives to participate in the Fund. 4. Collateral Sources. Section 405(b)(6) of the underlying legislation, Title IV of Public Law 107-42 ("Air Transportation Safety and System Stabilization Act") (the "Act"), mandates a reduction to the award for payments from "collateral sources". Section 104.47 of the Rule tracks the language of the statute and describes collateral sources as including "life insurance, pension funds, death benefit programs and payments by federal, state or local governments." Nowhere are any of these expressions defined for purposes of the Fund. Many of the victims were highly compensated professionals, and it is likely that many had life insurance (which they themselves paid for), and retirement plans such as 401(k) accounts (to which they contributed their own money, rather than investing these funds in some other type of savings vehicle). Virtually all of the victims will have died "on the job" and their survivors may be eligible to receive worker compensation benefits. The underlying legislation was intended to encourage the victims' survivors to participate in the Fund rather than pursue a tort claim against the airlines. If the families of the victims are to be induced to forego suit, the meaning of "collateral sources" should be relatively narrow. A. Workers' Compensation. Will workers' compensation payments be treated as collateral sources? The Summary of Public Comments submitted in response to the November 5, 2001 Notice of Inquiry and Advance Notice of Rule Making indicates that this issue was considered. Yet , the Interim Final Rule does not address the question and one is left to speculate as to whether, and if so to what extent, workers' compensation payments will be treated as collateral sources for purposes of the Fund. In order that potential claimants may evaluate the benefits of participation in the Fund as compared with participation in litigation, the Final Rule should provide unambiguously whether workers' compensation benefits operate to reduce a claimant's award. For example, worker compensation should not be considered a collateral source payment. Although these payments are made by an insurance company, they are not technically "life insurance" nor are they technically payments "by" the government. Moreover, if worker compensation benefits were to be considered collateral sources, these payments would be virtually impossible to value. For instance, the standard death benefit under New York law is $400 per week, which terminates in the event that the surviving spouse remarries. How would one value this benefit? What term would one use, especially in light of the possibility that the surviving spouse will remarry, thereby terminating benefits entirely? If some arbitrary term is selected, what would the term be? What discount rate would be applied to reduce the value to a lump sum present value? In my view, because of these difficulties in valuing the benefit, coupled with the fact that workers' compensation is not an enumerated collateral source, nor is it a payment by Federal, State or local government, the Final Rule should provide that workers' compensation benefits are not collateral sources for purposes of the Fund. B. Pension Funds. The Final Rule should provide a more specific definition of "pension funds." Will the Fund utilize the definition of "pension" utilized for purposes of ERISA, or will a different definition be applied? How will the Special Master calculate the collateral source reduction based upon pension fund payments? Many retirement plans are funded by both employer and employee contribution. One example of this is a 401(k) plan where the employer "matches". It would seem unfair, and contrary to the intent of the collateral source provisions of the statute, to consider the employee's own contributions and growth attributable to these contributions to be collateral sources. They are, in effect, no different than savings on the part of the victim. It would be more appropriate to limit the offset for "pension funds" to that portion of any retirement benefit that is attributable to the employers' contribution and the growth attributable to that contribution. On a related topic, will the Special Master consider employer contributions to pension funds for the years 1998 through 2000 in calculation of income? The Presumed Economic and Noneconomic Loss Tables indicate that pretax earnings will include "base salary and bonuses plus certain employer benefits (such as premiums for medical coverage paid by the employer)." Will employer contributions to pension funds be among those employer benefits that will be included in the calculation of income? C. Executive Defined Contribution Plans. Many claimants are entitled to stock pursuant to executive defined contribution plans. For instance, our firm represents a potential claimant whose husband was killed in the collapse of the World Trade Center towers. At the time of his death, he was the beneficiary of an EDCP consisting of stock in a privately held company. Some of the shares had vested in decedent prior to September 11, 2001; and some of the shares were unvested as of September 11, 2001 but vested subsequently. Will the value of shares that vested in the years 1998 through 2000 be considered as income in these years by the Special Master? If so, how will the value of these shares be calculated? D. Life Insurance. With respect to life insurance, Section 405(b)(6) of the Act only requires an offset for insurance payable to the "claimant". Section 104.2(a) of the Rule narrowly defines "claimant" as any September 11th victim or the victim's personal representative. Abidingly, the Rule should assign the narrowest possible definition to the collateral source reduction for life insurance, while still adhering to the Congressional mandate, by treating only insurance payable to the victim or his or her estate as a collateral source payment. As it stands now, Section 104.41 of the Rule offsets for all insurance on the victim's life. This interpretation penalizes the families of those victims who prudently invested disposable income in insurance as opposed to other investment vehicles. The potential inequities of this interpretation are exacerbated by the "cap" placed on the economic losses payable to families of victims who were financially successful. By capping awards and subtracting all insurance proceeds, the Rules as presently structured may essentially eliminate the ability of many families to obtain relief from the Fund. Conversely, if EDCP benefits are considered to be potential collateral sources, will the Special Master include all vested and unvested shares (as of 9/11/2001) in the calculation of collateral sources; or only shares that were unvested as of September 11 but vested subsequently? Or, will another analysis be utilized? 5. Review of Presumed Awards. The Interim Rule makes clear that the Special Master may increase a presumed award upon review of claimant-specific information. Does the Special Master anticipate that presumed awards may be reduced in some cases following a review of individual specific information? Or, will the presumed award operate as a floor? 6. Publication of awards. Section 104.34 provides, in part, that the Special Master "reserves the right to publicize the amounts of some or all of the rewards". It seems to me that the interest of the families are best served if the Special Master is required to publish all awards together with some type of summary describing the victim's family and financial circumstances but not identifying any individual by name. This will put family members in the best position to try and assess the likely amount of the award under the Fund and decide whether to participate in the Fund or to pursue a tort claim. Whatever the Special Master's intention with regard to these issues, potential claimants would benefit by the promulgation of a Final Rule that clarifies the Special Master's intentions in regard to these points so that they may make informed decisions as to whether to participate in the Fund. Again, thank you for your consideration of these points, and for the hard work and thoughtfulness that your office has devoted to this matter. Very truly yours, Individual Comment Stamford, CT 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 dojN001929.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. Saturday, November 17, 2001 2:02 PM (no subject) my husband is a victim of the wtc tragedy. i have read the proposal, but feel that if my husband and I thought about life insurance and having been paying life insurance for years, why would that penalize us now. there is no reason why that the life insurance should be deducted from the settlement. thank you for all the hard work you are putting into this. Individual Comment September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-11-17 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 dojW000374.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. 2001-11-17 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. Wednesday, December 19, 2001 8:41 AM Equal Access to Crisis Relief 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 Campbellsville, TN 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 dojA002766.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