886 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. Thursday, January 10, 2002 10:53 AM Comments regarding Legislation, PL 107-42 (HR 2926) My name is &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp and as father, surviving family member and duly appointed administrator of the Estate of &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp offer these comments to the interim final rules published on December 21, 2001. The Legislation, PL 107-42 (HR2926) dated September 22, 2001 was created to protect the airline industry and, I believe, the United States Government by substantially compelling the victims and their families to accept the monetary compensation offered pursuant to the Fund set up by the Act and thereby forestalling the possibility of mass litigation against those found responsible for allowing these terrorist crimes to occur. The regulations proposed on December 21, 2001, while setting forth a procedure for compensating victims and their families, certainly ignore the spirit and mandate of the Act to seek in some measure to provide fair and reasonable economic recompense for those lost or seriously injured. For me and my family, only &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp return to life will make us whole. Recognizing that not to be possible, the Special Master's refusal to even recognize my son's (and those similarly situated) full economic potential is insulting, painful and, if left uncorrected, will cause the families of those adversely affected to seriously contemplate what the Act expressly wants avoided, the commencement of litigation against those responsible for this tragedy. To set the record straight, what I am suggesting does not grow out of greed, but out of a sense of obligation to show the world in the only way afforded to us by the Act how special our lost loved ones were. If the spirit of the Act is intended to recognize the economic loss of the decedents, a significant group of them should not be singled out and treated differently. By choosing to cap earnings at up to 98%, which, by the way, is nowhere found in the Act, the Special Master would fully recognize the economic loss of all families of victims earning less than $231,000 per year, while in a significant number of cases severely penalizing, if not belittling, the achievements of those whose financial remuneration on average exceeded this arbitrary cap. Elsewhere in the regulation, the Special Master advises that on issues like deductions for Collateral Sources, his hands are tied by the mandate of the Act. While one could argue the unfairness, for example, to a victim who prudently provided substantial life insurance, the Special Master is correct that the legislation requires, in some cases, massive deductions for life insurance. By capping income at 98%, for many of the same families, it results in doubling the adverse impact and for many, substantially eliminating any Fund compensation. There is no justice under the Act unless all families suffering an identical loss are treated the same. If a victim earned $20,000, that family should receive the full economic benefit of 100% of those earnings calculated out over the economic life of the individual and brought to present value. Likewise, if a victim made a million dollars a year, that family should receive the same treatment. Anything less constitutes unfairness, injustice and ample reason for rejecting the Fund and seeking one's day in Court. This is especially true where the family has nothing to lose because the Special Master's unwarranted 98% cap when coupled with the Act's discount for Collateral Sources reduction results in little or no benefit under the Fund. I submit that is not what the Act intended. The Special Master should amend the rules to allow the derivation of economic loss based on earnings up to 100%. Regarding non-economic loss, the Act's only mandate to the Special Master was to follow what the State courts would allow in determining such losses. State courts in New York, for example, award hefty damages upon showings of pain and suffering. With the catastrophic incident that occurred, the lack of individual credible evidence to discern the facts of each case and the sheer number of cases involved, one can readily understand the logic the Special Master employed in concluding flat sums for victims and their dependents. I would submit however, that in his zeal to implement this concept he has over simplified it and given no credence for palpable pain and suffering where it can easily be demonstrated. I would suggest the creation of a separate flat sum category differentiating the physical and emotional pain and suffering for those trapped above the impact area of each of the World Trade Center buildings from those who were physically located below it, and that the amounts to be awarded to each class be increased. was a trader for Cantor Fitzgerald* on the 104th floor of Tower One. The airliner hit his building at the 90th floor, instantly and completely cutting off all means of escape for the over 1300 people located above the 90th floor. None of them escaped or survived and for a period of up to one and one-half hours after impact, and the others vainly attempted to find a way out and at some point came to realize their ultimate fate. I would submit that their pain and suffering was substantially different and greater than, say, a worker on the 72nd floor of the same building who after the impact, continued working or delayed departure and ultimately was trapped in the eight seconds it took for the building to collapse. A separate category should be established to recognize the pain and suffering of all those who spent up to one and a half hours without hope and those who died in the eight seconds period of collapse. I would also propose that the flat sum be set at $1,000,000 for those above the impact area and $500,000 for those below. If the Special Master heeds these comments and adjusts economic and non- economic losses accordingly, it will result in fair and equitable compensation for all the victims' families and truly encourage all of these families to avail themselves of the Fund and not consider costly and time consuming litigation. Thank you for the opportunity to make these comments. Individual Comment East Norwich, New York September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-01-10 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 dojN001496.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. 2002-01-10 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 Re: Comments on the Interim Rules September 11 Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 Dear Mr. Zwick: I am writing on behalf of four families who were killed in the attacks of September 11, 2001, to comment on the Interim Rule. We object to the presumed award and their manner of calculation. I recognize the awards are not intended as full tort compensation, and that there is a "trade off" element involved attempting certainly and finality in exchange for the uncertainty of litigation. However, the "trade off" goes too far. The victims are asked to forego all tort claims in exchange for the presumed award. Waiver of civil litigations extends not only to the airlines, airports and World Trade Center operations, but also to the United States and in particular the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). It is arguably applicable to actions against individual terrorists and the states that sponsor them. The emergency legislation enacted in the wake of the attacks provides relief and protection to the airlines. The Federal Torts Claims Act (FTCA) imposes significant hurdles of its own for claims against the United States. Yet, it is the malfeasance of the United States and the airline industry that set the stage. The presumed award suffers from the following defects: 1.) The pain and suffering component is below what a jury would reasonably be expected to award or an insurance carrier offer in settlement; January 18, 2002 page 2 2.) The economic loss component unfairly penalizes successful, responsible families due to the collateral source reductions; 3.) The Interim Rule provides no guide as to what is intended by "extraordinary individual circumstances" nor how they will impact on the award and what proofs will be required to support a finding of extraordinary individual circumstances; 4.) Economic loss calculations are skewed downward by use of national averages, ignoring the reality of the loss of talented adults employed in New York City. The fixing of the presumed award at a lower than reasonable level coupled with the drastic effect collateral source reductions will have together withe transfer of tax dollars to culpable airline industry actors is inequitable. It is a lowest common denominator approach to unique circumstances. In short, the survivors end up paying for the protection of the airlines. Claims should be dealt with on a case-by-case basis and awards entered without regard to the presumed award calculations in the absence of a definition of extraordinary individual circumstances. The entire structure of the legislation pressures almost all claimants to enter the program, without consent. The normal rules have been disturbed to the benefit of the airlines and the government. There should be consideration given to the survivors for that, over and above the presumed award. Very truly yours, Individual Comment Freehold, New Jersey VPM/cf 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 dojN002526.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. 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 Atlanta, GA 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 dojA005094.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 25, 2001 6:56 PM crisis relief benefits December 25, 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 Claremont, CA September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-12-25 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 dojN000549.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. 2001-12-25 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. Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2002 10:44 AM Subject: myfriendcathy To Kenneth R. Feinberg, I am writing on behalf of my friend, &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp, whose husband &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp was killed in the World Trade Center on September 11th. Like many others &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp worked as a bond trader at &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp on the &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp floor. &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp now has three small children ages 3, 5, and 7 to care for and support alone. I am writing to express my serious concerns and objections to the Department of Justice's (DOJ) "Interim Final Regulations Governing Payments Under the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund." I have read the letter that Congressman Marty Meehan sent to you on behalf of the victims. I could not voice my concerns and objections any better than he did in his letter. I urge you to consider his objections and recommendations. Specifically I believe it is important to establish a substantial, meaningful minimum that all victims will receive. The figure of $250,000 per person for non-economic damages is unacceptable and sends a statement to the victims that their losses are not valued in either a legal or humane way. I am as to bewildered why you have capped the incomes to be used in the calculations at $231,000. I cannot find anything in the original bill that requires this type of cap on economic losses. I can only assume that this limit was set to appease those who object to the "government supporting these people." Those who have this view need to be reminded that this bill was put in place primarily to protect the airlines and secondarily to address the fact that the victims would have no recourse to sue for just compensation. Please do not give into this pressure of public opinion. All these families are entitled to be compensated for the full extent of their economic and non-economic losses. They really have no other recourse at this point. I realize that you have a tremendously difficult job to do in balancing everyone's needs and concerns. I urge you to do the very best that you can on behalf of all the victims. I have seen first hand how painful their situations are and how much they want to move on with their lives. However, they have lifetimes in front of them in which they must support families that will need tremendous care and attention for years to come. By fairly and fully compensating them for non-economic and economic losses, they can move on with the rest of their lives. Sincerely, Individual Comment South Orange, NJ MEEHAN'S 1/14/02 LETTER TO MR. FEINBERG: Dear Mr. Feinberg: I am writing to provide comment on the interim final rules for the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund ("the Fund"). I appreciate the hard work you, your staff, and the Justice Department put into assembling the interim final rules. I also appreciate the fact that, under the interim final rules, charitable contributions to persons injured in the September 11th terrorists attacks or the relatives of those who lost their lives in this tragedy will not offset Fund awards. I had weighed in on that particular issue during the prior notice-and-comment period, in correspondence dated November 26th, 2001. At the same time, I strongly and respectfully request that the interim final rules be modified to provide truly full and fair compensation for economic and non-economic harm incurred by victims of the September 11th terrorist attacks and their loved ones. I had emphasized the moral and practical imperative of providing full and fair economic and non-economic damage awards through the Fund during our meeting of December 13th, 2001. Unfortunately, I do not believe the interim final rules achieve this objective. More importantly, those directly affected by the September 11th terrorist attacks consider the interim final rules to be seriously deficient and are -- quite understandably -- angry, hurt, and frustrated. A combination of unjustifiably low presumed non-economic damages awards, a flawed presumed economic damages formula, the collateral source offset rule, and an inappropriately steep evidentiary hurdle to securing modifications to presumed Fund awards will operate in many instances to prevent victims and their loved ones from receiving full and fair compensation -- and, on occasion, any compensation -- through the Fund. This would frustrate Congress's intent, deprive some families of resources critical to their economic security, encourage litigation, and send entirely the wrong signal to these families regarding our government's and society's estimation and appreciation of the magnitude of their loss. In the airline relief and airline security bills, Congress limited the courtroom liability of airlines, the airline industry, the World Trade Center, and other parties. It recognized that these liability limits - operating alone -- might deprive victims of the September 11th terrorist attacks and their loved ones of full and fair compensation for the terrible harms they have suffered. Thus, Congress created a government-funded program to provide full and fair compensation for the economic and non-economic harm suffered by victims and their loved ones, minus a narrow range of collateral source payments. Notably, it did not subject the program to the annual appropriations process. Rather, it funded the program through mandatory spending. In other words, the manifest intent of Congress was to ensure that the program fully and fairly valued the economic and non-economic harm suffered by victims and their loved ones -- federal budgetary and cost considerations notwithstanding. Indeed, this would not only benefit victims and their loved ones but also reduce litigation arising from the September 11th attacks. Along these lines, the fact that courtroom litigation may be less attractive to victims and their loved ones due to the liability limits imposed by recently enacted federal law certainly does not support valuing economic and non-economic damages incurred by victims or their loved ones for purposes of the Fund at levels significantly lower than what one would secure in a successful courtroom action. Those liability limits instead make it particularly imperative that damages estimates under the Fund be full and fair. Again, this is not only good policy but also the clear intent of Congress. To achieve this objective, I respectfully urge you to modify the interim final rules to increase presumed non-economic damage awards to amounts that fully reflect the damages that Congress listed as compensable, correct any and all methodological and statutory interpretation flaws in the setting of presumed economic damages, and allow increases to presumed awards based simply upon a showing that such awards do not accurately reflect the damages incurred by victims and their loved ones (as opposed to requiring a showing of "extraordinary circumstances" for increases to presumed awards). First, the presumed non-economic damages awards provided under the interim final rules are substantially lower than those paid in comparable cases. Non-economic damage awards in considerable excess of $1 million are typical for other airline crashes and terrorism cases, but in this instance, presumed non-economic damages awards are limited to $250,000 per victim and $50,000 for a spouse and each dependent. This dramatic undervaluation of presumed non-economic damages runs contrary to Congress's general intent to provide full and fair compensation and, significantly, to the specific language of the law establishing the Fund, which lists an extremely broad array of non-economic damages for which victims and their loved ones are to be compensated (regardless of what may be allowable under state law). This problem bears considerable responsibility for the fact that many victims or their loved ones would reportedly be severely under compensated or even receive no compensation under the Fund - potentially driving them to pursue litigation which, due to statutorily imposed liability limits, may shortchange them as well. The interim final rules can and should be fixed to increase presumed non-economic damages awards to amounts which properly reflect Congress's intent and are a more realistic assessment of the considerable pain and suffering endured by the victims of the September 11th terrorist attacks and their loved ones. Second, a number of economists or experts have pointed out flaws in the interim final rules' methodology for calculating presumed economic damages. The use of outdated and improperly aggregated federal government data and the underestimation of household services performed by victims and of real increases in earnings by administrative support and clerical workers, among other things, has resulted in the unjustified and unnecessary under valuation of presumed economic damages. The interim final rules' cap on the level of income a victim may be considered to have earned per year for the purpose of calculating presumed economic damages awards serves to exacerbate this problem. I strongly urge you to provide interested parties with all information that is necessary and useful to further evaluate the propriety of the interim final rules' presumed economic damages methodology and then correct all flaws that would tend to undervalue such damages. The fact that these are merely presumed economic and non-economic damages amounts - purportedly subject to upward adjustment based on specific Evidence of loss presented at hearings or through supplemental evidentiary submissions by victims or their loved ones - does not excuse flaws in their calculation. Rather, presumed awards should be based on the best available data and methodologies regardless of the hearing or evidentiary submission option. Indeed, the goal of providing accurate compensation expeditiously through the Fund is furthered by having properly justified presumed Fund awards, as this may diminish the need for hearings or supplemental evidentiary submissions in each and every case. It also may be overly optimistic to assume that each Fund claimant will be able and willing to present evidence at a hearing to correct inaccuracies in the presumed Fund awards in light of their individual circumstances. Indeed, one can reasonably expect that some victims or their loved ones may, upon viewing inadequate presumed Fund awards, have little faith in the ultimate fairness of the hearing or supplemental evidentiary submission process and decide to forsake the Fund altogether. More importantly, the misplaced requirement contained in the interim Final rules (though not contained in the statute establishing the Fund) that a Fund claimant demonstrate "extraordinary circumstances" through supplemental evidentiary submissions or at a hearing to justify increases to presumed Fund awards could serve essentially to "lock in" the unfair presumed economic and non-economic damage awards in any given case. Whether or not the presumed awards are fair, upward adjustments should be possible simply upon a showing by a claimant that a presumed award does not accurately reflect the economic and non-economic damages he or she has endured. But this degree of flexibility is particularly essential if the presumed economic and non-economic damage awards would in many cases provide less than fair and full compensation. The "extraordinary circumstances" threshold, however, may prevent the accurate and individualized Fund awards intended by Congress, because while all victims and their loved ones have endured extraordinary hardships, it may be difficult for a single Fund claimant to establish that his or her circumstances are "extraordinary" relative to all other victims and their loved ones. The hearing or supplemental evidentiary submission opportunities for victims and their loved ones must certainly be structured so as to afford them ample time and a convenient way to make their case. But even a properly structured hearing or evidentiary submission process would not remedy the difficulties arising from the inappropriately stringent "extraordinary circumstances" standard. Congress did not erect or envision any such obstacle to the award of accurate and individualized compensation to victims and their loved ones. Indeed, as Congress has considered bankruptcy reform legislation over the past few years, it has moved away from using an "extraordinary circumstances" threshold for permitting deviations from a grid of allowable expenses for debtors in favor of a standard that more readily accounts for debtors' particular economic circumstances. Accordingly, the "extraordinary circumstances" threshold should be modified. I do appreciate the fact that the interim final rules will not offset Fund awards by the amount of charitable contributions received by a victim or his or her loved ones. I believe the collateral source offset provision of the law is misguided. To the extent the final rules do offset Fund awards by virtue of certain collateral source payments, I strongly urge that you construe the collateral source offset provision of the law narrowly, consistent with the tenets of proper statutory interpretation. In particular, amounts paid by victims or their loved ones to secure certain types of collateral source compensation -- for example, life insurance premium payments-- should be deducted from any amount considered to offset a potential Fund award. Likewise, where collateral source payments trigger new income or estate tax liability, that new tax liability should be deducted from any amount considered to offset a potential Fund award. Thank you as always for your consideration and attention to these matters. Sincerely, Marty Meehan Member of Congress September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-01-24 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 dojP000066.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. 2002-01-24 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. Friday, November 16, 2001 12:39 AM As an advocate for my sister in law and her 3 children, surviving next of kin of my brother, who was killed in the North Tower WTC on September 11, 2001, and all other surviving members of the victim's families, I have great concern for how the victim compensation fund compensation fund will be determined and administered. Bottom line, it is clear that the government and airlines were negligent parties in this catastrophe. Everyone agrees that some form of compensation is owed to the victims of this tragic event. I implore you to be fair and to not to further our pain by haphazardly or inconsistently executing the fund. In any court case we ask what was the crime, who was the victim, who was negligent and how do we compensate the victim or family of the victim. Jury trials cost money, take time and cause unnecessary stress to the victims and are a drain to the overall court system. For this reason we have settlements. In order for settlements to work, there must be an overall feeling of "win/win". The government "wins" by consolidating its claims and therefore consolidating expenses. The victims, although never a "win" in a case like this, are protected from a lengthy, costly and painful process and can concentrate on the difficult task of trying to put the pieces of their shattered lives back together in some way. It is clear that the US Gov't, along with the airlines, were negligent in their responsibilities to the American people. It is an atrocity that the American people put their trust in the government to protect its citizens, and yet, even in the tumultuous climate of Arab unrest, (not to mention fairly recent terrorist attacks that have hit pretty "close to home" with fair warning that other attacks were inevitable), . that our government has spent more time and energy attempting to prosecute a president for his "extra curricular personal affairs" and trying to reign in Microsoft's control of the PC software market, just to name a few. Clearly, priorities and resources were not appropriately assessed. Additionally, our intelligence communication to other federal agencies that perhaps could have assisted or thwarted the terrorist activities long before they occurred were grossly insufficient. Those who lost their lives, and their families are in the thousands. There are thousands of children like my niece and nephews who will never know their father. There are thousands of women, and men, who like my sister-in-law are now single parent households, not by choice. Lastly, my brother and the 5,000 like him who were victims September 11, miss out on the wonderful lives they built for themselves. They were cheated and robbed. They lost their freedom; the freedom they thought they had when they went to work September 11, 2001. They had no choice that day but to die at the hands of a faceless enemy; an enemy our government knew was there. In a jury trial, compensatory and punitive damages are often awarded. Typically, punitive damages are emotional awards made by juries that never seem to meet the actual crime but are to "teach a lesson" to those responsible. Certainly, this is one of the most emotional cases to ever fall into the justice system. While I don't expect each victim to receive an "emotionally inflated award", the least I expect is an award that covers future earnings of each victim and takes into account pain and suffering (a non-variable amount across all victims.) I also strongly oppose the government deducting or "taking into account the collateral sources for which a claimant is eligible" (i.g. life insurance). Again, in order for a settlement to work, the execution of the fund must be consistent across victims. It would be extremely unfair to penalize those who planned and saved for their families futures. These and other assets have nothing to do with the damages that occurred as a result of 9/11. The net worth of the victims' families should not be an offset to damages, as it would result in awarding more in damages to those who did not sacrifice and save for their families futures. Additionally, taking into account the value of one's assets would be prejudicial. I believe the following issues need to be addressed. -Future earnings until average life expectancy. -Number of children -Adjustment for cost of living increases. -A lump sum acknowledging pain and suffering payable to each surviving spouse and dependant child consistent across all victims. -I see no logic in taking into account the collateral sources for which a claimant is eligible. First of all there is too much subjectivity. Secondly, no victim should be penalized because of his/her attempt to insure himself for the benefit of his/her dependants. (If he/she thought terrorism of this scale was even remotely likely, I am sure many of those who had life insurance policies, would have policy values far greater than those they had at the time of their untimely deaths). Why should the government be allowed to reduce their commitment and responsibility to and thereby penalize those who have suffered from this horrible tragedy because some of these people had life insurance. -Other deductions should only be those funds directly obtained from Federal sources, (i.e.. FEMA), not from charitable sources. -No family should be forced to live below the standard of living they had while the deceased was living. Thank you for the opportunity to submit comments. I hope and trust that the United States government is able to do the right thing in this extremely difficult situation. Individual Comment Omaha, NE September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-11-16 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 dojW000358.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. 2001-11-16 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, February 06, 2002 8:34 PM Compensation I think the compensation fund is overly generous and an outrage to victims of other natural disasters. Other American families are expected to have life insurance plans and receive no compensation when their loved ones are killed by an act of God or terrorists. What makes these people (and the government) feel that they are entitled to more than anyone else? This is just another example of taxpayer moneys being wasted by the government. Individual Comment Enville, TN September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-02-06 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojP000439.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. 2002-02-06 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. Thursday, March 21, 2002 5:51 PM 9/11 Compensation Fund Mr. Ashcroft and Mr. Feinberg, I just read where the compensation fund for 9/11 will be giving benefits to the following: Eligible Family Members: Spouses, Children, Infants, Fetuses, Illegal and Undocumented Aliens. I find it interesting that we are willing to pay monies to Illegal and undocumented aliens and we are going to disallow benefits to the gay and lesbian survivors. I believe that if you are going to give benefits to non-US residents then the gay and lesbian survivors are due the same benefits. The surviving domestic partners, etc. are tax paying Americans and should be given more consideration than either of you are willing to do. Allowing each state to decide how this is handled is ridiculous. Most states do not even recognize these types of relationships much less want to give money to the loved ones that have been left behind by this tragic incident. Most have already been giving the money to the parents of the people that were killed and I have seen documentation where the families have completely cut the surviving member out of their lives. THIS DISGUSTS ME!!!! We should be taking care of our own citizens, straight, gay, etc, before we begin giving money to the illegal and unregistered aliens. I am not saying that these people do not deserve aid; however , we should deal with our own citizens first. These citizens should be granted the same rights and privileges as any other surviving spouse. I believe the two of you should reconsider your stance on this issue. It appears that the two of you are saying yes they should be compensated; however, then turning this over to the states to deal with. This type of political maneuver seems extremely underhanded. And I am sure when President Bush comes up for re-election, the treatment of gays and lesbians by this action will not be forgotten. Individual Comment Gainesville, FL 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 dojR002600.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. Wednesday, December 05, 2001 1:18 AM September 11 Victim Compensation Fund Kenneth L. Zwick, Director Office of Management Programs, Civil Division U.S. Department of Justice 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 Grants Pass, OR September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-12-05 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojA000662.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2001-12-05 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. Monday, March 18, 2002 1:14 PM With liberty and justice for all...except homos! The day the towers were hit and &nbsp and his buddies made their very rational and sane announcement that this was god's way of punishing the US for allowing gays and lesbians to exist in this country, I knew this was just the beginning of another round of gay bashing. Now we are the reason our country is being attacked be terrorists! I think it is a shame that we gay people have to go out and create our own 9/11 victim's fundraiser for the families and spouses of gay terrorist victims (not heros) because ALL of the other ones out there do not recognize the gay people killed as qualifying for any compensation. After all, &nbsp announced we are the reason why this happened in the first place. Maybe your system should just bill all the homos in America for the damage done on 9/11. The fact that fetuses and illegal (get it - illegal as the terrorist were illegal) aliens will get more than their American-gay commrades, continues to propell the belief that gay people don't count, we don't deserve, we are not recognized etc simply because of how we express our love. (And I always thought the 1st Amendment protected us, allowed us to express ourselves freely. But we all know that story). To say that you are following the law on this with no exceptions, is a lie, or a shame. If illegals are given more status in this country than its own citizens, who identify as being gay, then this Amreican system isn't representative of equality. Your organization's policy on treating gays as less than the others who were killed in the attacks only perpetuates America's duality on its own citizens. I guess you haven't figured out that in the big picture of things, this is just one of many dualies that will ultimately be the demise of America. I hope you are ready, people. 9-11 was the first of many. This terrorist war will not end like an episode of LAW AND ORDER that will be completed in an hour with a few commercial interuptions. This is forever. For as long as you and I and our children and their children live on this planet this war will continue. It is a shame YOU will continue to use as much energy to fight us and our right to be seen as equal, because we are gay, as you will be using against the real enemy. If you are Christians, then you need to re-read the Bible and act like one. For if your actions are based on Christian doctrine, then that is one scary religion. Kill people (We are all of god's children- Jesus didn't make any exceptions, why are you?) because they are different- just to name one example. See you all in hell. Individual Comment Palm Springs 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 dojR001921.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. Saturday, March 16, 2002 4:56 PM I'm outraged To whom it may concern: I'm outraged that the partners of gay and lesbian heroes of September 11 will not necessarily receive the same benefits as the spouses of heterosexual victims of the horrible terror attacks. Explain to me how fetuses and illegal aliens will be receiving benefits under this plan. One group is unborn and the other is promised that federal law will be abandoned in order to continue the Bu$h Appointed Administration's Nazi Putsch to remove any semblance of Democracy from America. But when it comes to gay and lesbian heroes of the day such as who helped bring down the flight in Pennsylvania, NY Fire Dept. who died in the line of duty when the first tower fell, and (there are many more) I have read that the law is the law and no exceptions can be made. But the Fund is abandoning the law if illegal aliens are allowed to be covered without threat of deportation. If September 11 has taught us anything, it's that our patriotism and love of country transcend our differences and unite us all. We were told that September 11 was the day that "hyphenated-Americans" were no more, and rather than being Italian-Americans, African-Americans or gay-Americans, we were now simply Americans, all of us together as one American family. Apparently, that family just got a divorce. The hyphens seem not to matter when our government wants to use our heroism to inspire others, but when it comes time to actually aid the families of those heroes, the hyphens, discrimination and bigotry have returned full-force. Has the Bu$h Appointed Administration been listening to the Tag-Team-for-Jesus again? Let me repeat, I am outraged that gay and lesbian partners of those who died on September 11 are not automatically going to receive the same benefits as heterosexual spouses. Individual Comment Oklahoma City, OK September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-03-16 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 dojR001109.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. 2002-03-16 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. Saturday, March 16, 2002 9:40 PM complaint To whom it may concern, I have read about your intentions to discriminate against the Gay and Lesbian Community when it comes to providing benefits to the surviving partners of the people who lost their life during the 9/11 tragedies. It saddens me to hear that you have not learned the most important lesson from that experience. How quickly do you forget that we are all equal and that it doesn't matter if you are white, Christian, black, gay, straight, bisexual or whatever you might be, we all suffer, live and die the same way. How can you possibly choose to discriminate and promote bigotry among Americans and foreigners by your actions? Please reconsider your stand. Let us not forget the lesson. Sincerely, Individual Comment Long Beach, CA September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-03-16 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 dojR001253.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. 2002-03-16 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 19, 2002 From: Husband of - Killed Sept 11, 2001 at the Pentagon Springfield, Virginia To: Mr. Kenneth Feinberg, Special Master of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 In Care Of Mr. 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 Fax: 301-519-5956 Re: The Interim Final Rule of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 Dear Mr. Feinberg, I am writing to ask for your help to correct the inequities contained in the Department of Justice's interim final rule for the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001. The pain my family has experienced in this tragedy is difficult to communicate. The loss of my wife is devastating. I would exchange all compensation to bring my wife back. The interim final rule increases the already intense pain to an even higher level. I ask you to help bring some fairness and balance to our lives. Please give us a reason to participate in the Fund. Please adjust the interim final rule to provide economic and noneconomic amounts at fair, balanced and acceptable levels. Please establish a fair appeal process. Please preserve worker's compensation payments for surviving victims. Finally, please include the specific calculation formulas, statistics and assumptions within the rule or the explanatory materials. The Interim Final Rule provides little incentive to participate in the Fund because it seriously understates our losses and undervalues the compensation for those losses. Consequently, the Interim Final Rule will defeat the intent of Public Law 107-42. When Congress passed the Air Transportation Safety And System Stabilization Act on September 22, 2001, it severely restricted our right to sue the airlines, which bear responsibility for our loved one's deaths because of lax security procedures. In exchange for denying Family Members this right, they provided the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001. The Fund is supposed to compensate the victims families for the types of losses that would have been recoverable in a lawsuit. This includes economic losses, such as lost income, and non-economic losses. Non economic losses described in the law are very broad and inclusive. They are described as losses for: physical and emotional pain, suffering, inconvenience, physical impairment, mental anguish, disfigurement, loss of enjoyment of life, loss of society and companionship, loss of consortium, hedonic damages, injury to reputation, and all other non pecuniary losses of any kind or nature. The Interim Rule/Regulation also describes the intention of the law: "The Fund is designed to provide a no-fault alternative to tort litigation for individuals who were physically injured or killed as a result of the aircraft hijackings and crashes on September 11, 2001" {Interim Rule/Regulation, Summary Paragraph A,1.}. "The attached regulations have two objectives"(1) To provide fair, predictable and consistent compensation to the victims of September 11 and their families throughout the life of the program; and(2) to do so in an expedited, efficient manner without unnecessary bureaucracy and needless demands on the victims."{Interim Rule/Regulation, Supplementary Information.}. The Interim Final Rule issued by the Department of Justice(DOJ) falls far short of these stated goals and does not comply with the statute passed by Congress: a) Under the Interim Final Rule, noneconomic losses are limited to $250,000 for my wife and $50,000 for my daughter and myself. My family would receive only one-tenth the amount of noneconomic losses recovered in other air crash and terrorism cases, which commonly result in awards well into the seven-figure range. b) The Interim Final Rule understates economic losses: It underestimates the lifetime earning potential of victims at all income levels. Independent economists have shown the interim final rule uses outdated and inapplicable work-life and life-cycle earnings data from tables including the 1979 to 1980 Department of Labor's Bulletin 2254. This seriously underestimates promotions, work-life and pay increases and consequently provides low estimates of my wife's future earnings. In addition , the Interim Final Rule does not allow for the recovery of lost household services, which for working women with children would range to $430,000. Finally, it caps the salaries of high-income victims. Because the initial award amounts are so low, many families will receive little compensation from the Fund after the collateral payment deductions have been subtracted. The law requires the subtraction of earned pension funds and personal life insurance payments before a payment from the Victim Compensation Fund can be made. The initial low award amounts combined with collateral payment deductions will create a situation where there is little reason to participate. To compound the unfairness, my family would have little real opportunity to appeal the determination of the Fund Master. A family's award may be increased above the "presumptive" award only by showing "extraordinary circumstances" beyond those suffered by other victims or victims' families. This makes the hearing or appeal to the Special Master arbitrary, unclear and unfair. In addition the proposed compensation to the spouses, children and other innocent victims of the attacks is out of balance when compared to the generous compensation to the airlines. Not only did the law cap the airlines' liability at the limits of their insurance(which saves the airlines billions of dollars), but it also provides for direct cash payments and loan guarantees to the airlines totaling $15 billion. The undergarments to the spouses, children and other loved ones suffering from this attack will shift the cost of these airline subsidies and liability limits to the innocent victims of the attacks. Please correct the inequity. Please give us a reason to participate in the Fund. Please adjust the interim final rule to provide economic and noneconomic amounts at fair, balanced and acceptable levels. Please establish a fair appeal process. Please preserve worker's compensation payments for surviving victims. Finally, please include the specific calculation formulas, statistics and assumptions with the rule or the explanatory materials. Husband of - Killed Sept 11, 2001 at the Pentagon Sincerely, Individual Comment Springfield, VA September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-01-19 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 dojN002467.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. 2002-01-19 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. December 16, 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 New York, NY September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-12-16 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 dojA005336.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. 2001-12-16 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 8:40 PM Support for Gay and Lesbian victims Kenneth L. Zwick, Director Office of Management Programs, Civil Division U.S. Department of Justice Dear Mr. Zwick, It is inconceiveable in the face of the tragedy of September 11th that the Justice Department would consider excluding the suriving partners and children of lesbian and gay victims from support. What possibly is the rationale? That an individual's private life can exempt them from their rights as citizens, victims, and patriots? I urge you to include ALL victims of September 11 to receive benefits. And if the Justice Department begins to make discriminations among the victims, I strongly urge them to stay out of the private lives of all victims, straight or gay. Individaul Comment San Francisco, CA 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 dojA000561.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. Wednesday, December 19, 2001 11:52 PM open your heart to all 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 Madrid, IA 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 dojA004032.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2001-12-19 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. Tuesday, December 04, 2001 7:42 PM 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 Albuquerque, NM 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 dojA000518.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. Friday, December 14, 2001 5:16 PM discramition? hello: to me it seems all the gov. wants to do is discrimante against gays and lesbians if a gay or lesbian partner has been in the tradgey of sept. 11th in the trade center building then they should be compansated for that partners death or injury there should be no DISCRIAMANITION!!! all people who lost partners in that tradgey should be compassionated equally NO DISCRIMANTION!!!!!!!! we all grived equally in this tradgey and all should be compansated for there loss!!!!!! sincerly Individual Comment 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 dojA001957.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. March 13, 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: Is September 11 has taught us anything, it is that our patriotism and love of country transcend our differences and unite us all. We were told that September 11 was the day that "hyphenated-Americans" were no more, and rather than being Italian-Americans, African-Americans or gay-Americans, we were now simply AMERICANS, all of us together as one American family... The price of our nation's freedom was courageously paid for by &nbsp , &nbsp , and &nbsp , as well as other gay and lesbian Americans on that fateful day. I am personally outraged that the surviving gay and lesbian partners of those Americans who died on September 11 are not automatically going to receive the same benefits as heterosexual spouses. I urge you to change this un-American policy of discrimination. Such discrimination simply imitates the hate that attacked our nation in the first place. Sincerely, Individual Comment Sebastian, FL September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-03-13 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 dojP000620.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. 2002-03-13 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. 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, ncluding the children and families of low-wage workers and gay and lesbian families. Under traditional rules based on lost wages, the survivors of a bond trader earning millions of dollars per year might receive thousands of times as much compensation as the survivors of a dishwasher in one of the restaurants destroyed. Justice requires looking far beyond the last paycheck to the inherent worth of all those killed, so that a high minimum compensation level is set to lessen the disparities. It would be a double blow to the survivors to first lose their loved one and then watch as most of the taxpayer money went to those who were already well off in the first place. The second major issue has to do with recognizing the legitimacy of gay and lesbian relationships and families. Gay and lesbian families are especially vulnerable when one partner is killed. Because the option of marriage is unavailable, these families may find themselves in the traumatic predicament of having to prove that their union is legitimate. Fortunately, both the Red Cross and the State of New York have already announced that they will not discriminate against gay and lesbian families. The Department of Justice should do the same. Thank you for considering my comments. I look forward to hearing how you will act on these very important issues. Sincerely, Individual Comment San Bruno, CA 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 dojA004475.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