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. February 07, 2002 Mr. Kenneth R. Feinberg Special Master September 11th Victim's Compensation Fund U.S. Department of Justice Tenth Street and Constitutional Ave NW Washington, D.C. 20530 Dear Mr. Feinberg: I am writing to express my concerns in reference to the recent announcement you made about the terms and tentative figures of the September 11th Victim's Compensation Fund. As an American taxpayer I am overwhelmed by the six billion-dollar estimate you have dedicated to the fund and by the arrogant act of cloaking it as consensual "compassion." While my heart goes out to the victims of this terrible tragedy and I wish it had never happened, it disturbs me that our government has devised a formula to calculate the dollar value of life. Further, I am distressed to learn that you, a government representative, have full discretion to determine the amount each family receives. Not only do I question the ethical motivation and implementation of this program, I am sickened to learn retribution has been withheld from those who are not married or are homosexual. I wonder if this program intended to show government kindness or were other motives at play. Why are some compensated and others denied because of sexual preference? Why are some victims of September 11th receiving restitution when society has been the victim of heinous crimes in the past? As Special Master you determine and adjust final payments, life and its value are left to your discernment. You may perceive this a fair act; yet it appears you are acting with godlike authority disguised as human compassion. Sadly, your compassion is at the expense of me, a taxpayer, who was given no say. I did my part to help families; my compassion is represented in 1.6 billion-dollars raised by charities. Still this is not enough for the government, they want to do more. What I find most unethical is the worthiness factor our government utilizes in reference to this tragedy. Settlements of 1.6 million were not given to the families at Columbine. The IRS would turn a deaf ear to the cries of those who could not pay their income taxes, yet this year if they lost a loved one in the terrorist attacks they receive a ten thousand- dollar credit. I doubt those who lost savings in the Enron debacle will be eligible for waivers on estate taxes for property values up to 8.5 million dollars. The problem is no consistency, no standard regulating government intervention. Government has stood by in tragic times before and offered only their condolences. Why now have you come bearing large settlements? Just as distressing is the fact our government has hesitated to include life partners, be they homosexual, heterosexual, or transgender. You have even questioned whether children of these relationships fall within disbursement guidelines. Where lies your compassion? Again, your worthiness factor is further victimization in and of itself. I was aware that suffering was reserved for those involved in heterosexual marriages. To subject gays, lesbians and life partners to more extensive scrutiny defeats the purpose of charity. The Bush administration has called upon America to treat one another with dignity and respect regardless of perceived differences. This is your opportunity as a government representative, to heed the call of our President and help all those who lost someone they loved. The notion that tragedy and suffering know no bounds takes on new meaning when our government acts no less heinous than the terrorists. The terrorist attacked all of America regardless of race, creed, sexual orientation or economic standing, yet you are choosing to compensate with regard to. Because acts of terror and crime affect us all equally, I would like my government to take a more equitable and progressive stance on compensation. This bill was passed twelve days after the terror attacks, a time of great uncertainty. Now that we have had time to collect ourselves I would like to see Congress develop an absolute and ethical system of retribution. Whether abstaining from victim compensation or developing a program extending payments to victims of all crime, there needs to be consistency. The function of government is to provide those public goods and services the private sector overlooks. Selectively compensating victims of certain crimes is wrong and not the business of government. We can not let raw emotion and terror cost taxpayers billions of dollars in deficit spending. In a time when we are scrambling for social security benefits I am perplexed as to how Congress accessed funds in excess of forty billion dollars in a matter of days. The tragedy of September 11th jarred our sense of security. This is no excuse for government to lose sight of their function or purpose. Now is the time to unify and rebuild as a nation. Calculating what a life was worth and deeming people worthy of retribution reduces life and all it could be to dollar signs. I ask you, now who has committed the greater crime against humanity? Government is the formation of elected represenatives whom people deem worthy. I implore you not to shamefully establish selective precedence for victim compensation at the arbitrary discretion of government. We pay a dear price for living "in the land of the free." Freedom has always had a cost and sometimes that cost is enduring suffering. America is no exception. Allow us to move forward with dignity do not fortify our enemies belief that Americans are heartless and only care about money. I look forward to your response please send any correspondence to the above address. Sincerely, Individual Comment Bellingham, WA September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-02-07 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 dojP000618.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. 2002-02-07