781 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. Friday, December 21, 2001 1:23 PM Help all victims of terrorist attack Dear Mr. Zwick: The very humane Fund for relatives of victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks must include all relatives of all the victims. This importantly should include the partners and children of same sex unions. They suffer just as grievously for their deceased loved ones as do other survivors, and their need for assistance is just as great. Please do not give in to the importuning of callous homophobic groups and individuals who would have the Department of Justice limit compensation to survivors of heterosexual unions. They are interested in a political victory, not humane assistance. This Fund is intended for humane purposes; it is not a political statement, Mr. Zwick. Sincerely, Individual Comment Grand Rapids MI 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 dojN000498.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. 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 Minneapolis, MN 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 dojA004147.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, December 04, 2001 3:20 PM "September 11 Victim Compensation Fund" 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 September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-12-04 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 dojA000312.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. 2001-12-04 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 18, 2002 11:39 PM It's outrageous!! It is totally outrageous that gay and lesbian partners of the people who lost their lives on 7/11 will be unable to collect the same amount of money as the spouses of heterosexual couples. Are gay/lesbian people second rate citizens? Their lives are not as valuable as heterosexual ones? I'd like to receive an explanation for that. Sincerely Individual Comment September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-03-18 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 dojR001805.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. 2002-03-18 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. Monday, November 26, 2001 5:01 PM [Fwd: Once again it appears that the government is creating a bureaucratic administrative nightmare for the victims of 9/11 d... Attachment 1: Once again it appears that the government is creating a bureaucratic administrative nightmare for the victims of 9/11 designed Attachment 2: November 26th, 2001 Dear Mr. Zwick, My husband died in the North Tower of the World Trade Center on September 11th. We have 3 children under the age 6. Below please find my comments in response to the Notice of Rulemaking. I have addressed the points in your Notice by TOPIC as you have indicated in your outline, except where I address point (f.) in your General Approach to Regulations… Although I greatly appreciate the attempts of the US Government to minimize the anxiety of the families of the victims of the September 11th tragedy by providing an alternative to litigation, it appears that the government is doing more to create a bureaucratic and administrative nightmare for the victims of September 11 with how this fund may be implemented, according to your notice. In response to item (f) in your General Approach to Regulations, that individuals need information on how the compensation program works before they determine whether the compensation program is a viable alternative to continuing litigation with the airlines, let me tell you first, that your plan targets a group of people who have had the very worst possible nightmare and their backs up against the wall in terms of how to put their lives together. Your proposal to waive our rights to sue the Airlines, Government, Port Authority, etc. when we file our claim further backs us into a corner with no where to go. Asking us to waive our rights to sue prior to knowing exactly what the Special Master is offering, in dollars, does not afford us all of the information we need to make the best possible decision for our families. I believe that all of the surviving families need to have, 1.) all of the facts, specifically dollar amount and form of payment, to make a decision. 2.) a process by which to appeal your compensation "offer". TOPIC 1 The forms to be used should be easy to fill out by all claimants. TOPIC 2 The Information to Be Included On the Claims Form Eligibility Death certificate of victim or, Proof of physical harm I do not believe a Statement for the amount of compensation sought should be the burden put on the victims families. If I ask for 5 Million and someone else asks for 10 million, will they end up with more just because they shot a little higher? If you are indeed fishing for indications as to what our expectations of the victim compensation plan are, I believe you need a more forthright process prior to the development of the form used to file a claim. In short, the form should not be your fishing expedition regarding your liability to each victims family. As I stated above, I believe the government has to have some sort of predetermined guideline formula for the victim compensation plan. Below please find three components that are necessary to include in the compensation guidelines. Based on the following components, it seems that a formula could be designed to fairly compensate all of the survivors of the victims. Economic Loss = Total Income (Salary and Bonus where applicable) (see W-2, maybe highest of last 5 years) times the number of years to retirement age. Non-Economic Loss = awarded to all survivors of victim including, but not limited to, spouse, children, and parents. Non-economic losses for children could be put in trust. This is probably the only component of the compensation for which an oral hearing may be necessary because there are subjective needs in each of the individual cases. Pain and Suffering of the Victim = Consistent equal amount awarded to all "personal representatives" of the victim. TOPIC 3 Procedures for Hearing and the Presentation of evidence A claimant should be permitted to re-file the claim if it is not properly filed for lack of adequate supporting information. The Special Master may not have the right to dismiss a claim for lack of adequate supporting information, at least in the case where a death certificate is provided. The Special Master should inform the claimant what additional information is required to file the claim if a claim form is not sufficient. Regarding an oral hearing, I believe that there are too many variables in having hearing officers. There would be too many variables in the hearing process from the different "hearing officers" themselves to different "quality levels" of representatives of the claimants. Hence, I do not believe that having oral hearings would result in an equitable result for all of the survivors of this tragedy. The only component that I believe is subjective in the plan is the non-economic component. Non-economic losses could be quantified in a grid so that their subjective nature would have some sort of guidelines. With predetermined guidelines, the likelihood of survivors feeling that they were being treated fairly would be increased. A fair plan will more likely encourage participants. TOPIC 4 Procedures to assist an individual in filing and pursuing claims under this title. Those claimants that need assistance in filing the claim should be able to have one provided by the Special Master. Hopefully the Special Master will make the forms required to file a claim easy to submit without much need for assistance. Once again, if the form were adequately designed and the regulations consistent, with the variables being income, number of children, age, etc, there should be no reason for one to need assistance in submitting a claim in the economic, and pain and suffering component of the plan. Lastly, I believe that the goal of the Special Master is to provide a suitable alternative to litigation for the victims of the September 11 tragedy. If the Special Masters goal is to provide the greatest benefit to the survivors of this tragedy, why would we want legal fees in the mix? With regard to legal fees, I believe if the process were more standardized and simplified, at least for those who sustained the loss of a loved one, (which should be where the majority of the fund is directed), the government could provide the greatest benefit to the claimants, while not reducing awards through the distribution of legal fees. TOPIC 5 Claimant Eligibility Claimants who are seeking compensation in the case of loosing a loved one should be processed with priority. Eligibility should be in the form of a death certificate. TOPIC 6 Nature and Amount of Compensation The overall objective of everyone involved in this process should be making sure that the surviving dependants of the victims are adequately provided for, as they are our future. To be raised in the United States and know that their mother or father was horrifically murdered by a terrorist act, which occurred while their parent was at work, is obscene. These children have a burden that no other child in our history has ever had to bear. No one should have to live below the standard of living that they would have had. In addition, the victim compensation plan should include as mentioned earlier in this document, pain and suffering of the victim, and non-economic losses to the families. Economic Loss: With regard to your last statement in this paragraph, "The Department invites comments on how to address the economic losses of individuals whose lost future income streams would have been highly contingent, variable or unpredictable." I pose the question, whose future income streams are not? The fact is, a majority of the victims were young and not even at their peek potential. I believe in the instances where children are involved, the Special Master needs to determine a formula that factors in probable future income increases. Non-economic losses: The non-economic component should be divided by the pain and suffering of the victim and the non-economic losses of parents, spouses, and children. When considering non-economic losses, I would like to point out the long-term effects of this kind of trauma. The stress our entire family is under is unbearable. The physical and psychological aspects are just beginning to surface. When I look at pictures of our family together last Thanksgiving, we are different people. We look totally different now. You can see it. How will our health be affected by this stress? I believe non-economic losses should consider this issue. Collateral Sources I strongly urge the government not to reduce the award by any collateral sources of income. Doing so would provide a disincentive for Americans to do what we do best: Use all of our resources to provide and secure the best possible lifestyle possible for our families and ourselves. Deducting collateral sources would be a great injustice, because you are penalizing those who have maximized their time and resources to achieve and secure the American dream. Furthermore, by doing so, the non-economic losses become greater. Ones life insurance premium could have prevented a victim from making another investments (not to mention the "joy of life" activities which its sacrifice may have prevented), which would not have been considered a deduction in this case. Hence, deducting life insurance would be extremely prejudicial and discriminatory. Having an insurance premium produced financial sacrifices. Do not further penalize us because we were fiscally responsible in our estate planning. Additionally other investments should have no bearing on the award. All "collateral sources of income" represent what our loved ones left us. Please do not disregard the sacrifices our spouses and loved ones made in providing for their families. The life insurance and other collateral sources of income/investment represent the sacrifices that were made by my husband for our family. Hasnt he sacrificed enough already? Thank you for the opportunity to submit my comments. This fund is a critical component toward putting our lives back together. Please remember us as you embark on this difficult task. Sincerely, Individual Comment September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-11-26 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 dojW000729.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. 2001-11-26 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 8:18 AM survivors benefits for Sept 11 Dear Sirs It is hard for me to believe that you would choose to discriminate against partners and children of lesbian and gay people who died in the September 11 tragedy. Yes, we know that some states do not recognize the validity of these families, but that is not sufficient reason to leave them more bereft than ever. These are human beings who lost livelihoods, love, parents, children, partners, parents. Set aside your prejudices and be human and loving - it is only righteous. Sincerely Individual Comment Atlanta, GA 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 dojR000364.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. Friday, December 14, 2001 10:29 PM September 11th Victim Compensation Fund 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 Dighton MA 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 dojA001981.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. Wednesday, December 19, 2001 10:30 AM Please support equal rights for all people 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 Houston, TX 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 dojA002983.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. Sunday, March 17, 2002 3:56 PM Exclusion of gay families from the fund. Hello, The decision to exclude gay families from this compensation fund, and this exscuse that the States have different laws, is an insult to the families of those who were gay and who lost their lives in this tragedy. This is a time to do the right thing, this is a time when the exercise of real leadership would make this fund available for everyone who lost loved ones. How tragic that this is not happening. This is going to be remembered as one clear shameful black mark on our efforts to rebuild this country after this tragedy. Individual Comment Putnam, Ct 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 dojR001470.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. Thursday, March 14, 2002 6:04 AM Sept 11 Fund Discrimination http://uspolitics.about.com/library/weekly/aa031102a.htm This is a deplorable action. Like the article states---you are perfectly willing to bend the law for illegal aliens, yet you turn around and hide behind it when it comes to gay Americans. How can we be fighting for freedom and equality, when we discriminate at home against the first that were attacked? I donated to the fund through a fire department street-light fundraiser. I wish now, that I had written a check directly to the fund. With that documentation, I'd be demanding my donation be returned. Sincerely, Individual Comment Flint, MI September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-03-14 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 dojR000720.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. 2002-03-14 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, March 21, 2002 2:37 PM Comment from an American citizen I am dissapointed that our government believes gay and lesbian partners of the heroes that parished on September 11th are not worthy of the same treatment as all others. Discrimination has to end here at the top and then lead our country by example. Shame on you all. Individual Comment Phoenix, AZ September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-03-21 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 dojR002535.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. 2002-03-21 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. December 17, 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 Chicago,IL September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-12-17 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 dojA005128.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. 2001-12-17 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 17, 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 Red Hook, NY September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-12-17 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 dojA005105.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. 2001-12-17 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, January 12, 2002 2:03 AM Civilian versus Military Death Compensation? The September 11th Victims Compensation Fund of 2001 unfairly compensates civilian citizens at the expense of military casualties. On September 11, 2001, Army Sergeant First Class &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp , 44, of &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp , died serving his country. At the time of his death he was a supply sergeant assigned to the Pentagon. On the same day, &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp , also 44, of Staten Island, New York, a partner in the investment firm of &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp , was killed while working at the World Trade Center in New York. On January 4, 2002, Army Sergeant First Class &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp , age 31, of &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp , &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp , died. A member of the Army's elite Special Forces, he was killed in action in Afghanistan. Each of these men died violently as casualties in America's ongoing war with terrorists. Each died in the prime of his life and each leaves behind a widow and two dependent children. It is there that the equality ceases. Within days of the September attacks, and with almost no public debate, the Congress enacted Public Law 107-42, the Air Transportation Safety and System Stabilization Act. This law, in addition to providing billions of dollars in direct cash subsidies to an already floundering airline industry, established the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001. This fund will pay an average of $1.6 million to some of the families of our most recent war dead. Portrayed as a program to aid victims' families the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 is a key component of the airline industry's bailout legislation. It is established with federal tax dollars wholly unrelated to private charitable contributions made on behalf of the victims' families. It cleverly provides a legal shield to protect the airline industry from the economic impact of liability litigation. Few people would disagree that lax airline security either led to or significantly contributed to the hijacking of four domestic airliners on September 11, 2001. Lawsuits by the survivors of those who died in the attacks would have reasonably established the airlines' negligence. Sympathetic juries would have undoubtedly awarded huge sums in actual and punitive damages to the victims' survivors. Moreover, had they been forced to defend themselves in court the airlines could have transferred some of the liability to federal agencies tasked with ensuring aviation safety. The government's desire to prevent successful litigation against the airlines and the ensuing embarrassment to federal agencies is understandable. Many have begun to perceive the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 as a buyout. In exchange for a waiver of their right to sue, survivors of the victims will receive an estimated $6 billion (yes, billion), tax dollars in compensation from the Fund. Touted as being in the best interest of the families, the compensation payments will be "fast-tracked" with oversight truncated and streamlined to ensure full and prompt payment. The desire for such speed has little to do with the health and well being of the survivors. It has everything to do with the airline industry's desire to expeditiously relieve itself and their stockholders of liability. Consider the deaths of &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp and sergeants &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp and &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp . The family of &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp , the partner at &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp , based on his income reduced by complex offsets for insurance and other private benefits, is eligible for assistance from the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001. Likewise, the family of sergeant &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp , who died in the attack on the Pentagon, is also eligible. However, his family will be entitled to less. Under the Fund's proposed rules Sergeant &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp military earnings will "devalue" his life in comparison to civilian victims engaged in more lucrative careers. Few can fail to see the unfairness of this situation. The real inequity comes in considering the death of sergeant &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp who was killed by gunfire in an ambush in Afghanistan. His survivors are ineligible for the generous $1.6 million in benefits provided to &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp and sergeant &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp families by the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001. Without the ability to barter a waiver to bring suit against a major industry for his death, sergeant &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp family will receive only the proceeds of his military life insurance policy and a modest monthly stipend from the Veterans Administration. &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp are among the latest casualties in America's war with terror. In this struggle the deaths of others preceded theirs. Coming readily to mind are the 17 sailors killed aboard the U.S.S. Cole, another 12 American deaths in the embassy bombings in Africa, 19 dead in the bombing at Kobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, and the 6 Americans who died in the first (1993) attack on the World Trade Center. As with sergeant &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp , a hijacked airliner did not kill these other victims of this war. Their survivors are just as ineligible for the benefits of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001. These inequities are an insult to our uniformed military personnel. Allowed to remain unchanged, it will forever taint the fairness of posthumous care for their families that our military personnel have a right to expect when placed in harm's way. Given the events of September 11, 2001, it is no longer impossible to believe that a successful nuclear or biological attack could not be made against the United States. Such an attack could result in tens of thousands of casualties. Evenhandedness requires a public policy that treats each of this war's victims - past, present, and future -- civilian and military, as equals. We have begun to see the public spectacle of survivors squabbling over the inequity of the proposed awards from the Fund. None of the survivors should be made to feel that his or her loved one was in any way less valuable than another victim. Never should an orphaned child be made to believe that his murdered parent's life was worth less than that of some other parent. The September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 is bad public policy. In human terms of grief and suffering the survivors' losses are equal. Our American sense of fair play dictates that this equality of loss deserves to be equally compensated. XXX Individual Comment Roanoke, VA September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-01-12 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 dojN001568.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. 2002-01-12 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. January 18, 2002 Kenneth L. Zwick Director, Office of Management Programs U.S. Department of Justice Civil Division Main Building, Room 3140 950 Pennsylvlania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20530 Re: Interim Final Regulations With Request For Comments September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 Dear Mr. Zwick: Safe Horizon is responding to the Department of Justices (the "Department") request for comments on the interim final regulations issued on December 21, 2001 (the "Regulations"), addressing implementation of the "September 11 Victim Compensation Fund of 2001" (the "Fund"). As the countrys leading victim services organization, and as one of the principal charitable agencies providing services and assistance to victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Safe Horizon directs its comments toward helping to ensure that the Fund is administered in a manner that most effectively and fairly serves victims and their families. We are joined in these comments by the National Center for Victims of Crime and the Hispanic Federation. Since September 14, 2001, Safe Horizon has been offering financial assistance and other services to the victims of the September 11 tragedy. As of January 17, 2002, we have distributed $119,288,016.84 in assistance to 29,513 victims of the disaster. Based on Safe Horizons longstanding experience in serving victims of crime, and on our recent experience serving victims of the September 11 terrorist attack, we submit the following comments in response to the Departments request for comments to the Regulations: I. Claimant eligibility a. The Regulations should specify that all individuals who suffered loss can recover a claim. 1. Claimants should be eligible regardless of their immigration status. The Immigration and Naturalization Service (the "INS") has stated that families in those circumstances should be treated with compassion and their cases treated with discretion. Families of Victims of Terrorist Attacks, INS News Release (Oct. 10, 2001). As the INS has recognized, families of the September 11 terrorist attacks whose immigrant or non-immigrant status was dependent on the victims status should not be concerned about facing immediate removal from the United States. Id. By contrast, the Regulations are silent and the program information is ambiguous as to undocumented individuals eligibility. Consequently, it would be entirely reasonable for those individuals to assume that they are not eligible to receive compensation. In order to ensure that undocumented individuals will file claims with the Fund, the Regulations, as well as program information and application forms, should make abundantly clear that they are eligible and will not be penalized for applying. Therefore, the Regulations should explicitly state that immigrants who meet the eligibility requirements may recover from the Fund regardless of their immigration status. They should also affirmatively assure applicants that information gathered through the application process will not be released to the INS and may not be used against a claimant in any immigration proceeding. In addition, program information and application forms should reflect this policy. As currently drafted, program materials may discourage otherwise eligible undocumented immigrants from applying. For example, it appears that a social security number is required in order to submit a claim form. The application form should clearly state that a social security number is not required and should specify alternate types of documentation that will be accepted. The program materials should also indicate the multiple languages in which applications and supporting materials are available, and these materials should be readily available to claimants. 2. Regulations should specify that non-traditional relationships will be recognized as families. As currently drafted, the Regulations do not explicitly protect an unmarried life-partners right to file a claim with the Fund. By deferring to state law in determining the beneficiaries and personal representatives of the deceased victims, the Regulations may effectively preclude assistance for same-sex and other non-traditional life partners, because those relationships are generally not recognized under state law. The Regulations should specify that these relationships will be recognized for the purposes of determining who is a dependant, a beneficiary, and a personal representative, for purposes of administering the Fund. b. The standard for "physical injury" will preclude claims by many individuals who suffered direct harm. The Regulations currently limit recovery only to those who suffered physical injury, which is defined as "partial or total disability, incapacity or disfigurement." 28 C.F.R. § 104.2(c)(1)(ii) (2001). On its face, this determination seems to have the perverse effect of penalizing those persons who were injured and suffered as a result, but were fortunate enough to recover. The Regulations should be amended so that those who suffered serious physical injury that can be documented, are eligible for recovery. Additionally, we reiterate our recommendation that the term "physical harm" should be construed to cover psychological as well as discernable physical harm. Many of those who were injured may suffer tangible loss even if they do not have a discernable physical injury, and should be eligible. For example, someone who worked in the World Trade Center and escaped without physical injury may nevertheless have experienced psychological distress that may have produced longstanding damage, including disability. The fact that these victims were lucky enough to have escaped without observable physical harm should not render them ineligible for recovery. In order to ensure that only those who suffered measurable injury can recover, the Regulations could impose some additional requirement. For example, the class of eligible claimants could be reasonably limited by requiring eligible claimants to establish that they were physically in the vicinity of the World Trade Center and were rendered unable to work or engage in a major life activity as a result. Furthermore, requiring the claimants to have received medical care within 24 hours of the attack is overly restrictive and unrealistic. 28 C.F.R. § 104.2(c)(1) (2001). This requirement will exclude many individuals that the statute clearly contemplates as eligible claimants. For a significant amount of time after the attacks, many of those injured were in a state of shock and did not realize that they required medical attention. With the public transportation and telecommunication systems severely disrupted, the primary focus of most surviving victims was to escape the affected area and reach their families. Many victims were required to walk miles to reach their homes, and were simply too exhausted, physically and mentally, to navigate the disrupted transportation system and seek immediate medical attention. It is contrary to the language and the spirit of the statute to exclude these victims from recovery. II. Nature and Amount of compensation a. The definition of "Dependents" should clarify that all those who were actually dependent on the victim will be considered to be beneficiaries in calculating non-economic loss. The Regulations should adopt the same inclusive approach to calculating non-economic loss that we recommended be applied when determining eligibility. Currently, the Regulations set $250,000, plus an additional $50,000 for a spouse and for each dependent, as the presumed amount of non-economic loss. 28 CFR § 104.44 (2001). This language is unclear as to who will be considered a dependent, but could be construed to limit the term to those claimed as "dependents" on the victims income tax returns for the 2000 tax year. However, our experiences with family members of deceased victims has revealed that in many cases the deceased victims provided crucial financial assistance to family members other than their spouse and children. These include family members who are not U.S. citizens or residents, parents whose children helped support them, other relatives who relied on decedents and those in same-sex partnerships. Applicable tax laws may preclude many of these family members from being claimed as "dependents" on the deceased victims tax returns even though they received substantial financial aid from the deceased victims. To accurately establish a level of compensation that reflects all family members substantially affected by the attacks, these family members should be included as "dependents" in determining the amount of non-economic loss. b. The Regulations should clarify the circumstances, if any, in which charitable contributions will be considered in determining what is a "collateral source." Although the Regulations state that charitable donations distributed to beneficiaries of deceased victims do not constitute collateral source compensation reducing the amount of award from the Fund, 28 CFR § 104.47(b)(2) (2001), it also authorizes the Special Master to determine that such charitable donations can constitute collateral source compensation. Id. This ambiguity should be clarified. As Safe Horizon stated in its previously submitted comments, it opposes treating charitable contributions as collateral sources. Among other problems, such a determination would negatively affect charitable giving by removing the incentive for donors to provide assistance. Nevertheless, if the Department authorizes the Special Master to treat charitable contributions as collateral sources in some situations, the Regulations should clearly identify what these situations are. c. Only collateral sources actually received by the claimants should reduce payments from the Fund. The Regulations require that payments from the Fund be reduced by "all collateral source compensation." 28 C.F.R. § 104.47(a) (2001). The Regulations should clarify that only those collateral source payments designated to be paid to eligible Fund claimants will reduce payments from the Fund. For example, payments made to beneficiaries other than eligible Fund claimants, such as organizations or entities, (e.g., pursuant to a corporate key-person life insurance policy) should not reduce Fund payments made to eligible Fund claimants. d. The procedure must promote consistency and equity. As a final matter, a procedural mechanism should be built into the process to ensure that similarly situated claimants receive comparable payments. For example, rather than one hearing officer conducting the proceeding, a panel comprised of rotating hearing officers could conduct the proceedings. A separate review board should periodically review the decisions to make certain that there is no substantial divergence in payments to similarly situated claimants. Safe Horizon would be pleased to respond to any additional questions the Department has in connection with establishing the Fund, or to provide more detail about the responses outlined above. Thank you in advance for your consideration. Respectfully submitted, Comment by: Safe Horizon New York, NY September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-01-18 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 dojN002005.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. 2002-01-18 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. Tuesday, February 26, 2002 12:16 PM Perceptions of the Victims February 26, 2002 Kenneth L. Zwick, Director Office of Management Programs Civil Division U.S. Department of Justice Main Building, Room 3140 950 Pennsylvania Avenue Washington, DC 20530 Dear Mr. Zwick: A fraud is being perpetrated on the American People. The September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 has been hijacked by the [in]Justice Department for its own ends while preparing to give perhaps half of the intended recipients of the fund no money at all. I do not know if one of the hidden objectives is to simply discourage participation in the Fund, especially by those recipients who would be the most costly to the Fund. How else can one explain the enormous number of material objections to the Final Interim Regulations which at every turn pick and choose the lowest possible entitlement and the lowest possible payout. This can't be explained by sheer incompetence alone, for just by chance the plan would have missed some ways of making a reduction or left a reasonable award alone, but no, each and every opportunity has been seized! In order to carry out this fraud the victims of the act have to be neutralized -- hence the Victims and the Heroes 9/11 are being slandered in a disinformation campaign authored by . I bring up a case in point : In an unsigned editorial of the 10th of February, the Chicago Tribune published a PR piece that might as well have come straight from the desk of . He claims to be appalled by the cry of greed on the part of the uninformed public, while still repeating the deceptive "$1.65 million average award" figure, this time not even adding the fine print "before deductions." The article states that some of us [ the victims] have said that this is not enough, but what I hear is that many say that the $1.65 million figure is meaningless. A significant number of families will get zero ("$0") under the final interim rules. From a show of hands it appears that about half of the families in one meeting which I have attended, expect to receive nothing from the Fund, myself included. Are we wrong to complain? The headline of the piece is "Putting a price on a life" but the reader has to wait for the closing punch line for the answer that "There is no dollar value of a human life" but $250,000 is the best we can come up with. We are told to believe it makes no sense to look at the history of "tort" law where slip and fall injuries routinely run past that figure, major surgical procedures and rehabilitation can exceed this and today the cost of raising and educating one child through college exceeds $300,000. The government's position is like saying the value of a Van Gogh masterpiece is a little less than the cost of the canvas, turpentine and oil paint used to produce it. The article alleges that " that Congress clearly intended the fund as a safety net for those who did not have substantial life insurance or other assets" but I can not find any language in the law or implementing instructions that corroborates this assertion; the law does state, however, that its purpose is "to provide compensation to any individual ... who was physically injured or killed" This is not a welfare program. In fact, if the intent of the law were to narrow the gap between the have and have nots, this peculiar implementation by the Special Master exacerbates the gap by artificially capping all non-economic losses which include the extraordinary pain and suffering of being incinerated alive, to the cost of painting supplies, if you will. We are reminded that "[o]f course, no one is forcing the families to take the money and forfeit the right to sue" but, the Special Master spends 15 minuets of his presentation telling us that the government has stacked the deck by capping the liability of the airlines and giving itself the option of being first to recoup from the airlines insurance any payments made from the Victims' Fund. Under the present final interim rules, the government payout is estimated to be as low as $2 billion after deductions and that the entire sum could be recovered from the airlines insurance. So much for the Special Master's "generosity argument." Perhaps most disappointing is the way the promotes pillaging of the victims in these airy PR pieces distorting the truth. considers job as "10 percent lawyer, 40 percent rabbi, 50 percent shrink." I would gladly exchange this for a 100% honest man. -- [Comment 1] The feelings of bitterness run deep on both sides of the issue as these excerpts from an on line bulletin board attest: I am the surviving spouse of someone who was killed in the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Now, months after the event, I know that many Americans are still very concerned about me. I am writing this to put their minds at ease. Don't worry about me. I'm doing just fine! I'm a celebrity. You've probably seen me on TV. And best of all, I hit the lottery on September 11th. Not the Big one (I was thinking like $10 million, but it seems that there were way too many winners that day) but, hey, $1.6 million, works for me. You figure a plane crash-has to be worth at least $5 million. Terrorist action-$5million is almost guaranteed. Two Americans killed by Palestinian terrorists while riding a bus in Israel got $10M each. Think about Lokerbie. How about $5million for 2nd and 3rd degree burns of a single arm caused by an exploding cappuccino machine? But, like I said, there were just too many winning tickets, that day. A regular plane crash is no problem. It's a statistically predictable event. Nobody ever envisioned that those holy messengers of Allah would greatly enhance the probabilities, or perhaps we simply chose to be blind. Anyway, as I said, a regular crash now and then is expected. Its part of the business. Think about it, drop one every now and again, 200 souls at a cost of $5 to $10 million apiece, no problem, its covered by the insurance carriers. Hell, it's a sound business practice, they even have a name for it. It's called "cost effectiveness". After all, its cheaper to pay the premiums than it is to provide the proper protection. For months after drawing the winning ticket, I'm on a roll. I'm on CNN, Fox News, CNBC, the network news channels, radio, the internet, you name it. I'm the focus of international attention. Everyone feels what I feel. We're with you, they say. Nothing's too good for you. They open up their hearts and their wallets. God bless them, they give more than a billion dollars freely. I even managed to get some of that. Just enough to get by, but so what, I have the winning ticket. My daughters and I may go live in the south of France (I just love St. Tropez in the summer). I call my lawyer. It's time to cash in my ticket. Bad news, there are too many winners, more than 3,000 at $5 to $10 million apiece. We'll bankrupt the airlines. "Who cares", says I, "we'll take the planes, the real estate and whatever else we can get". "No", says Uncle Sam, "we must save the Airlines". "Good", I say, "you save them so I can sue them". "No again", says the Uncle, "you can't sue, we've got it rigged in such a way that even if you are successful in your lawsuit, we will make sure that you don't get any more than the amount that we decide you should have". I reply, "But what about the constitution, what happened to 'due process'?" "Don't worry about that stuff", he says, " I'll cash your winning ticket, trust me". "Okay", I say, "give me my 10 big ones and I'll be on my way". Now you have to understand my Uncle, he cares about me very deeply and would do anything for me but $10 million is a little too steep, even for his deep pockets. So, "how much?", I ask, hoping for at least $5 million. "Well", says the Uncle, "You have to understand I'm going to give you your prize as soon as you sign on the dotted line, no waiting. No fuss, no muss, no bother! For this extraordinary service you're going to have to take a bit of a discount" (always ready to make a deal, my Uncle). But, "How much?" I repeat. "Don't worry", he says, "just sign on the dotted line and I'll tell you. You know that I will be fair and just, trust me". Seeing that I am a little wary, he whispers in my ear, "Look, this is a kind of 'take-it-or-leave-it' type thing, but I'll tell you what I am going to do because I feel what you feel. I will bring in my army of accountants, have them sharpen up their pencils and come up with formula to pay off all the winners. And to ensure that the deal is fair and just, I will have them compile a chart so that each lucky winner can find his particular ticket number on the chart and get a good idea of what the amount will be before you sign away your rights. Trust me, we're family. I feel what you feel. When I get the chart, I look up my numbers. Let's see, widow with two children, husband, 40 years old with average earnings of $80,000 a year gives me $1.6 million ($1,583,484 to be exact, but who's counting?). It's not $10 million but still, not bad. Okay, sign me up, I'll be down to pick up the check in the morning. "Glad to see you" says my Uncle," just sign this paper waiving your right to sue and I'll write your check". He must see my hesitation because he puts on that warm friendly grin of his and says, "You know you can trust your dear old generous Uncle Sam". "Okay", I say. I sign the paper and he gives me a check for $223,975. "What's up with this?", I ask "in all of the other similar cases involving airplanes and/or terrorists, if you settle for $5 million you get $5million or if you settle for $2 million, that's what you get.. How did my $1.6 million shrink to $224 thousand"? Uncle Sam, never at a loss for words, explains it to me like this, "Well, you see this is a special situation, saving the airlines is an expensive proposition, so my accountants with their very sharp pencils have determined that you don't really need all that money. In order to make it fair and just, they have come up with this really neat and novel way to reduce your winnings by a series of deductions called "collateral offsets". I telling you, they really sharpened up those pencils! Bless their hearts. Doesn't it make you proud to be an American?" "Those nifty little collateral offsets work something like this. We calculate that over your lifetime you and your children will receive the equivalent of around $500,000 in monthly social security benefits. You will also receive workers compensation payments of $400 a week which totals to a present value of around $350,000 over your remaining life. Also because your husband had a life insurance policy and a 401 (k) plan you will also receive a lump sum payment from these items of around $500,000" (Too bad I didn't know about this during the years that we were scrimping to pay for these things, but, hey, that's water under the bridge). So they're taking $1,350,000 away from my winnings, its okay, its for a good cause, we must all join together to save the airlines. I had to agree, what with the $800 a week that I am going to get from Social Security and Workers compensation combined, along with the life insurance and 401(k) proceeds, I really don't need much more to exist. I think that if I start drawing down on the principal of the life insurance settlement, I can probably continue to pay my mortgage. And I also have the $224,000 that my dear old Uncle so generously gave me. So you can see it didn't turn out so bad, in fact it was a real windfall. My Uncle told me that he was happy for me and happy to be so fair and just. He said it all worked out pretty well because the $224,000 was only slightly less than the amount that he gives to military personnel who are killed in the line of duty. I tried to explain that my husband was not a military man and he didn't sign up for hazardous duty pay. He was only a computer programmer sitting at his desk when a Boeing 767 landed on him and burst into flames. He said, "No matter. A life is a life, take the money with my blessing. I thanked him for his generosity. I know that he truly feels what I feel. So, that is the story of how I became a high flyer. No, that's a poor choice of words since I know that I will never fly again. Rather, that is the story of how I became a real high roller. But speaking of flying, this story has a double happy ending in that the airlines will keep on flying and I 'm proud to have contributed $1,350,000 to that cause. Please don't be envious of my good fortune. The chances are pretty good that you can be a winner just like me. After all, airport security is about as bad now as it was on September 11th and terrorists seem to be everywhere and nowhere. Don't worry, the chances are better now than they have ever been that someone you love will be dispatched to the promised land in a plane crash or some act of terrorism. Bingo, $224,000 and life in the lap of luxury will be yours. Allah be praised, America is truly a great country. Trust me. Heartfelt thanks to my dearest Uncle Sam. God bless America. [Comment 2] Please send this to the New York Times. [Comment 3] Everyone needs to see this. you must send this to every newspaper in the city (and the country) this was SO well said [Comment 4] Actually I'm glad I read that, because I thought the relatives where getting more money than the average plane crash victim and soldier. Now I know that they are getting about what a plane crash victim or a widow/widower of military personal gets, if a little less. But why from the Feds? Because the airlines don't want to pay. Of course, then there is no incentive to bother with more security at airports and they continue to lobby for more loop-holes to 'delay' implementation. The airlines will just let the Feds pay for not only compensation, but the security too. How convenient for them. I say lets let a whole new set of airlines take over the nations skys, I couldn't care if the old ones go under. If there is a market, someone will fill it. America will not come to an end because 3000 people sued three airline companies who still doesn't care to offer safety and has been fighting it since before Lockerbie But back to the survivors. It all sounds like the math is close to typical. But lets hold up one minute here! The original article in this thread didn't address that huge fund that the Red Cross (RC) is managing. So, not only does some random person in N.J. get what a soldier gets, but they get to ask the RC for anything else. But no, its a better windfall than that. Everything that is a cost to the victims gets sent to the RC for 'help' and then the $$ from the feds comes just for having been related to a victim. All without the trouble of a lawyer nor any time contributing to helping to establish in a court who is responsible for security at airports. So we have, Airlines getting bailed out by the Feds with no incentive for airlines to take charge of improving their security situation. Plus, accident survivors get more money than they need from both charity and the government. Sorry, the whole thing is the wrong way to go. I'm glad I didn't give more than a few bits of loose change to the money strapped Red Cross for this fund, just so they can be in a weird situation of trying to raise money for disaster work, but have 10's of millions of dollars targeted for a particular group that is already getting lots of money from other sources. My suggestion to the survivors? Apply for every cent you can from the RC Fund, then donate it back to the Red Cross, because they certainly need the money and the tax deduction more than everyone else since between your private resources, the Feds and the Red Cross Fund you are now guaranteed to have a multimillion dollar bank account when this is all over. Signed, -"no fan of compensation from the Red Cross or the Feds" [Comment 5] I am outraged at that last post. I had to read it twice to actually believe that someone could be so closed-minded and ignorant to write such a thing. First of all, lets get one thing straight, these people are not "accident survivors" because this was no accident. The 4 hijacked planes killed about 3,000 people that morning did not do so accidentally. This was an attack on our country. The airlines were asleep at the switch (I'd like to know who was on a coffee break when 4 planes disappeared from the radar screen all at the same time), we are not suing the airlines because the government does not want them to be sued, they are not being held accountable because the government does not want them to be held accountable. It will cost too much money, and no one really cares all that much, lets be honest. Everyone wants to be able to fly somewhere for $2 round trip, what do you expect, you get what you pay for. These courageous Americans are not being given "more money than they need", they are being given less than 1/8 of what other real airplane 'accident' victims have been given in the past and told that that is all that they deserve for watching their loved ones murdered on international television. All in the interest of preserving the airline industry. This was terrorism, it happened here because our government thought that we were invincible, well, these families are paying the price for years of bad government policies. And still, they are not being treated fairly. If you can't see that then its because you just don't want to. Second of all you need to understand that the Red Cross fund is a charity, it was given out of the kindness of the hearts of the American people, and for that the families are grateful . If you paid attention to any of the families on the news you would have heard them thanking the American people for grieving with them, and for opening their hearts and giving to them. But, I don't think that you listened because you were too busy taking note of square footage, are you jealous, did you really read the first message in this thread? Listen up, no one is becoming a millionaire from the red cross fund. [Comment 6] Let me just state one unemotional fact to correct your assessment of what those affected by 9/11 are receiving from the American Red Cross. Yesterday, the head of the American Red Cross held a press conference where he stated that on average families will receive $108,000 from the Red Cross as a result of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Please note that $108,000 does not equal $1,000,000. As well, this piece of legislation that includes the Victims' Compensation Fund was passed on 9/22/01. I'm sure at that time (only 11 days after the attacks), many of the victims' families held some kind of hope that their loved ones would be found alive or were in deep mourning over their losses. No reason to attack these families...they never asked for this fund. Lastly, this past week a woman sued Starbuck's because a cappuccino maker exploded, severely burning her hand. She was awarded approximately $3 million because of this. Please understand the situation before you comment. Thank you. [Comment 7] I believe that some of the WTC Fund backlash is being cause by misleading or outright erroneous statements carried in the news media. The first is that the estimated average payments will be $1.65 million a person. The fact is that no detailed estimates can be made until the amount of pensions, life insurance and social security is known and it is not clear from the Masters' statements whether or not he reserves the right to reduce the proposed amount by charitable deductions. The one thing that is clear is that the $ 1.65 million can not be the average payout. So why publish it? To win the spin war? Another misleading statement is that the fund represents the generous gift of the tax payers. There is a general misunderstanding of the reason the Victims' Fund was established. It was established to bail out the airlines, not because of generosity to the victims. The Fund is part of the airline bailout bill which gave $15.5 billion to the airlines and takes the extraordinary step of denying, (after the fact no less) the victims the right to sue for damages. Many folks might feel that this, probably unconstitutional, law really doesn't change much because we know that Osama is at fault. Yes, he should be sued for every last penny he has, but, others parties may bear a significant level of responsibility, which would have been addressed in courts of law had this right not been abolished. Even though courts can make mistakes and can be misused in abusive ways, they would allow the victims to redress their grievances. The threat of airline hijackings has been around for a long time and, by now, one would think that the airplanes would have been designed to be more hijack resistant, . . . sealed cockpits, . . . to be smarter . . . eye scans etc. Likewise, the air control systems did little or nothing to discourage or detect the hijacking of four airlines. The airport security systems seemed to be more for show than to serve as a reasonable deterrent. And it has come to light that our Federal crime prevention agencies had left much to be desired. It seems our government agencies and many others may bare part of the blame. Yet its is almost as if is taunting or jeering at the victims that the Airline bailout bill has left the them with no choice but to take it or leave it. The distribution of the fund can be improved in several ways. The element of the Fund which represents the economic damages should be awarded on the basis of what a reasonable court might award. I would expect that these awards would be conservative but awarding at 10 cents on the dollar is something else. If the "bereavement" component were increased so that it becomes the most significant portion of the award, gaps between well off and struggling families would be narrowed. In addition I believe that this component should also be shared with parents and siblings as well as spouses and children. If necessary, laws might have to be changed to reflect the human dimensions of 9/11 This is not to say that I am ungrateful for the unprecedented donations to the Red Cross and many other charitable funds; if it were not for these gifts my mother would be looking at eviction. What I am saying is that the Fund is a business deal done to avoid crushing the airlines with lawsuits over their negligent failure to make good faith attempts to deter hijackings. It should not crush the victims in order to accomplish its objective. [Comment 8] WTC Families Want Fairness, Not Riches Much that has been written about families seeking compensation under the Sept. 11 Victim Compensation Fund is based on misinformation and misunderstanding. E.R. Shipp's piece in the Daily News on Jan. 20, characterizing the families as greedy, was one. I would like to bring some clarity to our position. The public has been led to believe that families will receive an average of $1.6 million. That figure is before offsets. Most families will receive considerably less. Fully a third are projected to receive nothing. Far from reaching $6 billion in payouts, economists project the cost will be about $2 billion - much less than $10 per taxpayer. The legislation that created the fund awarded the airlines $5 billion for their losses and another $10 billion for other benefits, yet the press and public have made no outcry against this. The victims were innocent of blame. Can the same be said of the airlines? And let it not be forgotten that the victims were taxpayers, too - many at the high end - and so the accusation that the money is a gift is inaccurate. The airlines were not the only businesses protected. Aircraft manufacturers, the World Trade Center buildings' owner - the Port Authority - and others whose negligence may have contributed in some way to Sept. 11 all were afforded protection. Some members of Congress have said this was done because no one was at fault but the terrorists. The families ask, how did Congress make that determination Sept. 22, without benefit of any investigation? Whether there was negligence remains to be seen, but by capping their liability, Congress and the businesses who asked for protection made a tacit admission that negligent conduct on a number of fronts was likely. Families regard the fund, in part, as an admission of our government's culpability. For this reason, and because their right to litigate was impaired by the bailout, families believe that Congress felt an ethical need to create the fund and a need for families to be fairly compensated under its provisions. But the legislation was poorly drafted and rushed through without benefit of public hearings. As a result, families find themselves caught in the middle of several controversies. Some members of the public regard the fund as a safety net, yet the legislation's stated purpose is to compensate the victims and be a substitute for litigation. It could be assumed, therefore, that victims would be awarded amounts that have some relation to conventional lawsuits. In fact, the wording tracks with conventional wrongful-death and survival statutes. Yet the special master, Kenneth Feinberg, has taken it upon himself to minimize the amounts at every conceivable opportunity. The public wonders why the families challenge these rulings. We do so because we believe they do not follow the letter of the law and override the legislative intent. We did not draft this law; we do, however, feel justified in asking for an objective, rather than punitive, interpretation. One controversy is Feinberg's ruling that noneconomic damages (pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of companionship, loss of enjoyment of life) be limited to $250,000. Although it's difficult to place a value on these elements, families are deeply offended by this sum. It fails to acknowledge the horrible deaths suffered by the victims. It fails to recognize the terrible impact that death has on the survivors, who must face the future without a father, a daughter, a wife. And because of the offsets, for so many families, even this component is reduced to near zero. The fund is not a safety net when it grants large sums to families who were not dependent on the victim in contrast to widows with children. This is not about greed, it's about equity. In light of this, some families have proposed that the same amount should be awarded across the board. This solution has a certain appeal. Truly, a life is a life, and the suffering is something the families all share equally. But sadly, the law as written probably doesn't allow for this option. The families aren't expecting large awards, but simply are asking for an accurate interpretation of the law on economic damages and also an equitable - and compassionate - assessment of noneconomic damages. And be very sure of this: no matter what the award, any victim's family would gladly trade places with those members of the public who have been so critical. We would give anything to be where they are, instead of where we are. If only we could. I believe you have one more chance to get it right, if not this will become the Teapot Dome Scandal of the Bush Administration. Individual Comment Newton, MA September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-02-26 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 dojP000590.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. 2002-02-26 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, December 29, 2001 10:08 AM Compensation Formula I am writing this in response to ?A Fair Amount? which appeared in the Daily News Editorial page on Dec 28. I was frankly appalled by the tone taken in this editorial. While you cannot put a price on human life, that is, in fact, what Kenneth Feinberg has attempted to do with his formulas based on age, number of dependants and salary. Each victim was unique and had value and was irreplaceable. You say that the average amount will be $1.6 million dollars per family. Half of the families will receive considerably less, and half more. The author then says ?And people who think they they can get a better deal in court have the right to sue.? People, people! You are talking about bereaved families. Families who lost loved ones in the worst attack in history on American soil. These victims were martyrs and many were unsung heroes staying behind to help co-worker?s and losing their lives in the process. The airlines? bail out would not have been necessary if the government forced them to implement security measure that were consistent and appropriate to protect the safety of the American people. Why should families that have already endured unimaginable pain and suffering be forced to sue for compensation that should be rightfully given? The fair thing to do would be to do away with the formulas and award each victim?s family the same amount -- $2 million dollars would be fair and equitable. Again this article minimizes the pain of the victims? families. But given the fact that the Daily News, alone of the area papers, did not feel it necessary to cover any civilian victims? lives, this is not surprising. This article is callous and insulting to the memory of my 22-year-old son and to all the others that gave up their lives that day for their country in a war in which they were unknowing conscripts. Individual Comment Brooklyn, NY September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-12-29 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 dojN001183.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. 2001-12-29 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. 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 Takoma Park, MD 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 dojA004457.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. 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 diswasher in one of the restaraunts 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 taxpayers 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 famillies are especially vulerable when one partner is killed. Because the option of marriage is unavailable, these families may find themselves in a traumatic predicament of having to prove that their union is legitimate. Fortunaely, 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 Sioux Falls, SD 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 dojA001857.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. Friday, March 15, 2002 10:56 AM comment, please respond Mr. Kenneth R. Feinberg Special Master Victim's Compensation Fund VIA EMAIL Dear Mr. Feinberg: First, I want to thank you for your televised comments on "Meet the Press," regarding the 9/11 compensation fund's final rule about the federal, state and local government's blatant discrimination towards homosexuals and their children. I understand that, as a result, the fund will include non-tax-paying illegal aliens, and ignore tax-paying, law abiding homosexual citizens and their families. I am writing to tell you that I am not shocked and dismayed at your finding. I understand that you can bend the law about illegal aliens, but not homosexuals. This is not surprising. It has been obvious to me for many years that the US government discriminates against homosexuals. The city, state and federal laws do not protect homosexuals, and you are simply abiding by those laws. Maybe this will be the wakeup call that the millions of gay, lesbian, bi, trans tax-payers and their tax-paying friends, families and supporters need. Because of your public comments and ruling, you have enraged a nation of voting citizens. The youth of our nation have already figured out that queer doesn't equal invisible, by a wide margin. In fact, 75% of college students surveyed recently, believe that homosexuals should be allowed to legally marry. If the older generation won't take action and fix this injustice, I'm sure the younger, wiser generation will. But, how long will we have to wait? Until homosexuals are treated fairly and equally in this country, along with their hard-earned tax dollars, would you suggest defection into "illegal alien" status, so that they are immune from taxes they do not benefit from? Or, would you recommend that all gay men legally marry lesbians, which would provide for inclusion in all tax laws, benefit plans and government compensation? This would also allow for their legal adoption of homeless orphans in the country and around the world, as in most states, same-sex couples, regardless of their financial situation and length and commitment of relationships are currently forbidden to adopt in most states. Food for thought. Any suggestions? Most importantly, I understand that you are just following state and local laws, and again, thank you for your honest and thought-provoking comments. Sincerely, Individual Comment St. Louis, Mo P.S. Who do I contact to request a refund of my charitable contributions to this discriminatory fund, and the percentage of the taxes I have paid that will go to non-tax-paying ILLEGAL aliens? September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-03-15 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 dojR000822.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. 2002-03-15