Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. Wednesday, November 07, 2001 8:21 PM Victim Compensation November 7, 2001 First let me say that like most Americans, I view the events of 9/11 as a horrible tragedy of unparalled proportion. I have great sympathy for the families of the victims. However, at the risk of sounding unsympathetic and cruel, I must speak my peace. Many millions of dollars of aid has been raised through voluntary donations/fundraisers, and that is wonderful. However when it comes to passing laws (federal or state) regarding victim compensation, we must keep several points in mind. First, what about the many people across the nation who individually have suffered tragedy such as loss of a loved one, home, or job. What about the large number of people who suffer a tragedy as a result of natural disaster. Is any one good citizen's life worth more than another? Does it matter whether the life was taken by a terrorist versus natural disaster or other means? Secondly, won't we be setting a precedent if we pass laws entitling victim's families to compensation? What about the next terrorist attack? What about, God forbid, a biological attack that kills vast numbers? We are a nation (and a world) of limited resources, and that includes financial resources. When I hear about free college tuition for victims' families and proposals that spouses continue to receive full salary of their lost loved one for life (or until remarriage), I worry about who's going to pay for that. I worry that our nation, with all the things that it must spend money on, will go broke. Additionally, we may also have to worry about fraud in the case of claiming victim compensation benefits. As I've said, I think the voluntary relief efforts have been wonderful. But I think we are now going overboard on the idea of "victim compensation". The very phrase connotes some form of entitlement. Legislation offering victim compenstion would be disrespectful of all other victims of other tragidies and would set a dangerous precedent. I believe that government should concentrate spending our tax dollars on our safety/security and rebuilding/revitalizing the area struck by the terrorist attack. This effort and our active war on terrorism will cost us enough! Yours truly, Individual Comment Poughkeepsie, NY September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-11-07 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 dojW000216.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. 2001-11-07