232 20 12614 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. Sunday, March 17, 2002 12:33 PM Discrimination Against Gays and Lesbians is UNFAIR What more do I need to say? It is unfair and an outrage to refuse to treat the spouses and partners of gays and lesbians the same way you treat those of heterosexuals. This country stands for freedom and equality. Prove it now. Individual Comment September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-03-17 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojR001406.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-03-17 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. December 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 Justi ce 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 Francisco, CA 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 dojA005237.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2001-12-13 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. Wednesday, December 19, 2001 4:17 PM Equal Access 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 Montague, CA September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-12-19 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojA003513.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 5:55 PM Comments on Proposed Regs for 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund December 4, 2001 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 Washington, D.C. 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 dojA000427.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 05, 2001 8:13 PM 9-11 Compensation for Gay and Lesbian Partners of Victims Attn: Kenneth L. Zwick, Director, Office of Management Programs, U.S. Department of Justice Please be informed I am very strongly in favor of federal compensation for surviving partners of gays and lesbians lost in the September 11th terrorist attacks. All families, traditional or not, deserve to be treated with respect, dignity, and fairness. To not compensate these survivors would be inhumane and unjust. Individual Comment 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 dojA001039.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. Saturday, March 16, 2002 5:54 PM A protest of your policy... To: The "Victim Compensation Fund" It has come to my attention that your policy toward domestic partners in the attack on 9/11 is discriminatory towards domestic partners. Among all the pain and suffering that is going on, I ask you, what would be the loving thing to do? It is an outrage to our country when even one person is discriminated against. Your policy in this matter is unfair, discriminatory and immoral. Individual Comment Leaburg, OR 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 dojR001159.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. Monday, January 21, 2002 9:04 PM Help same sex partners of terrorist victims Dear Mr. Zwick: The very humane Fund for relatives of victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks must include all relatives of all the victims. This importantly should include the partners and children of same sex unions. They suffer just as grievously for their deceased loved ones as do other survivors, and their need for assistance is just as great. Please do not give in to the importuning of callous homophobic groups and individuals who would have the Department of Justice limit compensation to survivors of heterosexual unions. They are interested in a political victory, not humane assistance. This Fund is intended for humane purposes; it is not a political statement, Mr. Zwick. Sincerely, Individual Comment September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-01-21 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 dojN002197.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. 2002-01-21 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. Friday, January 18, 2002 3:42 PM Comments on Interim Rules Attachment 1: Dear Mr. Feinberg: You and I have never met, but we have both worked with many of the same lawyers. From what I have learned, you are an excellent lawyer. Prior to your appointment, I had the privilege of meeting with many of the lawyers at the Department of Justice regarding the issues faced by those administering the compensation fund. Please accept the following comments as referring solely to your economic advisor(s). While I do not question their motives, their advice and analysis is simply wrong when judged against the economic literature on human capital and economic loss. The interim rules have been subjected to severe criticism as being "unfair". Generally, these criticisms are either that, as an alternative to litigation, they undercompensate families or that, as a social program, they are unfair because they do not provide equal compensation to all claimants. Arguably, if the liability test cannot be met or, if it is met, there is no money available from the airlines, any money from the fund is more than families would otherwise receive. This notion, however, constitutes the proverbial slippery slope with political implications. Consequently, the following comments are offered as if your goal is to provide compensation for the full financial loss to a family or, in the case of a single person without dependents, to his or her estate. It is understood that you have attempted to be "fair", and that you have endeavored to hold down the cost to taxpayers. However, it is also understood that you are a lawyer, not an economist. Furthermore, from the rules, it appears that your input on economic-related issues has come from those who have established themselves as "experts" in the courtroom, where the only test is that they can convince a group of laymen, including the lawyers, that they know something about which they speak. Unfortunately, these "experts" are almost universally unfamiliar with the economics of human capital, the very issue to be addressed by you and the fund. That is, it appears that your advice has come from the typical courtroom economist who, while quite able to convince a jury of his or her "expertise", generally lacks education in the very part of economic science underlying the issues being addressed. Universally, your rules reflect the approaches taken by so-called litigation economists, many of whom belong to the relatively new association of plaintiff "experts" known as the National Association of Forensic Economics (NAFE). The journal of that association is the Journal of Forensic Economics. This journal is the sole reference for most of the citations these economists make to the "scientific literature". Unfortunately, this journal is not included in research libraries of universities granting a Ph.D. in economics. It is only available in a few law libraries for the obvious reasons. Noticeably lacking are articles in that journal by authors from the ranks of legitimate human capital economics. For example, we have never seen an article published in that journal by an author who has also published in the American Economic Review, the flagship journal of the economics profession. Certainly no Nobel prize winner, such as Gary Becker and James Heckman, who received the Nobel prize for their work on human capital economics, has ever published in that journal. Moreover, we have found no citation to an article in that journal by any article in the American Economic Review. According to a newspaper report, NAFE met "jointly with the American Economic Association" (AEA) during its recent annual meetings in Atlanta. This seems to provide the imprimatur of the AEA to NAFE activities. In fact, there are over fifty associations who are loosely affiliated with the Allied Social Sciences Associations (ASSA). ASSA associations hold their annual meetings at the same time and place each year. The fact that NAFE and AEA meet annually as part of the ASSA is pure happenstance. No one at the AEA administrative offices, nor the president of the association, was aware of this misrepresentation. Moreover, the so-called "joint panel to discuss problems with the compensation fund" chaired by the joint editors of the NAFE journal, was a "press conference" called by NAFE. According to the AEA, it had nothing to do with NAFE's press conference. Clearly, the American Economic Association, whose members include virtually all American winners of the Nobel Prize for economics, all winners of the John Bates Clark Medal, all members of the President's Council of Economic Advisors, is not going to participate in a joint panel chaired by the editors of a special interest "journal". The following comments come from a human capital economist and focus on the specific elements of compensation considered by the interim rules and the types of families against or for whom your rules are biased and why: 1. Earnings A Columbia University economist initially developed the specification of the human capital earnings function in 1956. Finis Welch, the former editor of the American Economic Review, has referred to this specification as "probably the most widely accepted empirical specification in economics". The alternative approach proposed by your advisor assumes an annual increase of 6.6 percent to age 30, an annual increase of 5.1 percent to age 50 and a 4.2 percent annual increase beyond age 50. Using the human capital earnings function, the annual increases in earnings during the early years can exceed 10 percent, while those in the later years can approach zero. By using the ad hoc approach, proposed by your economic advisors, you are biasing the projections, undercompensating young decedents and overcompensating older ones. The point is, by ignoring basic human capital economics, you have created more complexity and have introduced a bias in your estimates. One of the fundamental tenets of human capital economics is that the rate of increase in earnings over the life cycle depends on education. A casual review of the census data for earnings by age and education will demonstrate its impact on the shape of the life cycle earnings curve. Your approach, supported only by the self-proclaimed experts from litigation, undercompensates for higher education and overcompensates for the lack of it. Another factor impacting life cycle earnings is occupation. Those employed in the financial services sector, for example, have much steeper life cycle earnings curves than most other professions. As is the case with analyses prepared by most litigation economists, your rules do not account for the effect of occupation on lifetime earnings. The primary reason that not all people work on a full-time basis to a normal retirement age is that they die. This affects the average worklife of all workers. A forty-year old male has roughly an 80 percent chance of living to age 65. This has not changed much since the late 1970s. However, it may be true that using the old worklife tables understates the worklife of women. Further, the effect of education on worklife is ignored. It is well established that higher education leads to longer worklife. By ignoring this fact, your results are biased against more highly-educated decedents. 2. Income Taxes Taxes cannot be determined without considering all household income. While it is important to identify that income that ceased with the death, it also is important to include income that does not end when estimating taxes. 3. Consumption Although most economists involved in litigation are unaware of it, the definition used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) in the Consumer Expenditure Survey is "household income", defined as income from "all sources". This includes spouse's income and income from dividends, rents, annuities and other sources. Consequently, if you determine your percentages for consumption and apply them only to the income of the decedent, you will understate the actual consumption. This means that decedents with investment income or whose spouses were employed will be overcompensated by the rules. You also should be aware that consumption expenditures as a percentages of income declines as household income rises. By ignoring this, you overstate consumption and, hence, undercompensate those with above-average incomes. Finally, the interim rules appear to suggest that the lost earnings are first brought to a present value, and that then a consumption percentage is applied thereto. This would appear to make it impossible to use a different consumption percentage for each year. However, the rules suggest that different percentages will be used for families, depending on the number of children in the home under the age of 18. This would only be possible if consumption is determined on a yearly basis, with the net remainder discounted to present value. 4. Discounting Long-term tax-exempt municipal bond rates vary from 2.2 percent to 5.0 percent. Taxable Treasury rates vary from 2.9 percent to 4.9 percent (5.4 percent for 30-year bonds). The rate of return depends upon the duration of the payment stream desired. Consequently, the appropriate discount rate will vary with worklife. Your discount rate exceeds even the current long-term rate of taxable Treasury bonds. This makes no sense. Your discount rate is too high, even if you are discounting a long-term taxable net income stream. In fact, you are discounting an after-tax stream. Therefore, your discount rate is too high for two reasons, and this means that families are being undercompensated with a lump sum award. Moreover, by applying a single discount rate, you exacerbate the overdiscounting, especially for older decedents. Finally, a key element in the selection of an investment portfolio to create a year-to-year stream of income is uncertainty. A basic principle from financial economics is that the greater the volatility of an income stream one expects from an investment, the greater is the required rate of return to reward those accepting that fluctuation. In contrast, if you are "discounting" wages, which generally move in a steady and predictable fashion, discount rates associated with risk-free investments, such as Treasury bonds, are more appropriate. However, if the stream being discounted fluctuates widely, such as would be expected if bonuses, commissions or stock options are an important part of one's annual earnings, overcompensation would occur if the lost stream were replaced with risk-free treasury bonds. For such individuals, a higher, risk-adjusted "discount rate" would be appropriate. 5. Periodic Payments You make the receipt of periodic payments discretionary on the part of the claimants. One can argue that they should not have the option of receiving a lump sum payment. Their financial loss is not a lump sum loss. They did not lose the present value of the future earnings of the decedent. They lost the future stream of those earnings. By paying out an income stream over time, rather than making a lump sum payment, the cost to taxpayers could be reduced by from fifteen to twenty-five percent. In this manner, you could pay more for non-economic damages, you could increase your "cap" above $231,000, or you could let the families keep their life insurance. It makes little sense to make an effort to hold down the cost to the taxpayer, yet omit such an obvious source of savings. You should not force taxpayers to pay more by converting the future lost income stream to a lump sum. If the recipient takes a lump sum, they are faced with the problem of recreating the lost earnings stream by making their own investments as well as the temptation to focus on short term ends to which a large lump sum could be devoted. A periodic payment fully compensates claimants, eliminates the need for reinvestment, protects at least some against the temptation to squander what might appear to be a large sum of money, and minimizes the compensation costs to taxpayers. You have been criticized for paying more to some than to others. This becomes less obvious and more understandable if you are simply replacing the year-to-year loss on a periodic payment basis. If the focus is on "the number", unsupported comparisons will catch the headlines. 6. Active Versus Passive Income Passive income does not cease with death. However, it does impact taxes and consumption. Be careful to distinguish between these two types of income sources. In instances of very high passive income and very low active income, death can lead to zero financial loss to a family. 7. Cap on Earnings Perhaps the least defensible element of your rules is the cap on earnings. While it is understandable that you would want to hold down the cost of compensation, this is not the way to do it. Clearly, incomes above that cap are going to be associated with older workers. Your cap, if you insist on retaining it at the 98th percentile, should be determined by age. That is, use the 98th percentile for workers the same age as the decedent, with perhaps the same education and occupation to avoid any bias. 8. Life Insurance It is understandable, because of the statute, that you believe you must subtract life insurance, regardless of constitutionality issues that may be raised in the future. But consider that you have the authority to "add" an amount to the total "award" that is equivalent to the amount of life insurance. Then subtract the life insurance, thereby avoiding the penalty for those families receiving life insurance benefits. Furthermore, the purpose of life insurance is not limited to replacing the economic loss. (In fact, the life industry does not even sell life insurance to cover financial loss. Unfortunately, the industry bases its coverage recommendations on their clients' "needs" rather than expected lifetime earnings. Needs-based selling focuses on taking care of current expenses rather than replacing the loss of an expected earnings stream. Consequently, there is little relationship between the amount of life insurance the industry recommends for a family and the loss associated with the death of the insured.) The fund's rules make it appear that life insurance is a luxury rather than a way to protect against the loss of a lifetime earnings stream.. The Life and Health Insurance Foundation for Education (LIFE) has a web site, http://www.life-line.org/life/life_value.html , that provides an application of the approach from human capital economics to estimate the economic loss to a family caused by death. While not including education or specific occupations, it applies the economics of human capital, such as life-cycle earnings as specified by the standard human capital earnings function from economics and calculates consumption in a manner consistent with the BLS definitions. By entering information on specific individuals, you can see how the interim compensation rules bias the results. The bottom line is that (1) you are spending more taxpayer money than necessary by converting losses to a lump sum rather than providing periodic payments, and (2) your rules tend to undercompensate families of decedents who were highly educated, had higher earnings and were younger. They tend to overcompensate those who had significant investment income or other passive income and those whose spouses worked. The ironic fact is that you gain no simplicity, as the correct techniques are no more difficult to apply and would eliminate the above-mentioned biases. I am confident that the issues discussed herein are now well understood by lawyers in the Department of Justice's Torts Division. Suffice it to say that, by endorsing the self-proclaimed "economics" of those who do not recognize or make use of accepted economic analysis of human capital loss, you are failing to adequately compensate thousands of claimants. Moreover, you are endorsing those who turn their backs on fifty years of economic research because it is expedient to do so. The fact that they can make a living testifying to non-economists does not make their ad hoc approaches meaningful for your task. This can have an impact on cases well after your task has been completed. It is easy to predict the type of cases that will not be filed with the fund and, therefore, will be moved to file against the airlines. When you take science out of a process you create bias. The procedures embodied in the interim rules were clearly designed without the benefit of the appropriate economic approach. Do not defend the interim rules by pointing to their supposed simplicity. The correct approach is not more complicated, and it will produce results that are both consistent and that can be defended on solid economic grounds. I wish you the very best in the task that lies ahead. Individual Comment 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 dojN002032.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. Friday, December 14, 2001 12:12 PM Protect Traditional Marriage Mr. Kenneth Zwick Office of Management Programs Department of Justice Washington, DC Dear Mr. Zwick: I want to express my opposition to any effort by the federal government to provide 9-11 victim compensation funds to "domestic partners" of unmarried survivors of the terrorist attack upon our nation. Funds disbursed through the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 should only go to the surviving family members of those who died on 9-11. Funds must go to the widows, widowers, orphans, and other blood-related or adopted members of the family--not to unmarried sexual partners of those who died. To provide funds to "domestic partners" is to undermine the traditional definition of marriage and family to include any number of sexual liaisons between same-sex or opposite-sex unmarried couples. Many homosexuals and swinging heterosexuals, for example, engage in sex with multiple partners. Do we provide funds to each of the sexual partners? Where do we draw the line on how many "domestic partners" a person may have? Homosexual activists are exploiting the 9-11 tragedy by asking the federal government to redefine what constitutes a legitimate "family" under the law. In fact, homosexual activist, writing in Out magazine has openly called for the subversion of the concept of marriage between a man and a woman. He has urged homosexuals to fight for the legalization of homosexual marriages and once legalized to "redefine the institution of marriage completely . . . . to debunk a myth and radically alter an archaic institution. . . . The most subversive action lesbians and gays can under take--and one that would perhaps benefit all of society--is to transform the notion of 'family' entirely." If the DOJ provides funds to "domestic partners," it will be helping accomplish his goal: That of redefining marriage and altering what he calls an "archaic institution." We also oppose September 11th Funds going to the estates of the deceased instead of to their surviving family members. No one can know for certain where these funds will end up if they are deposited in the estate of a person who has died. The person may have willed his estate to a terrorist, racial hate group, or even to an organization like the North American Man-Boy Love Association. No one will know unless each person's will is examined by a DOJ lawyer. The money should go to the surviving family members of the deceased, not to the estate or to the surviving "domestic partner." Individual Comment Spokane, WA 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 dojA001761.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2001-12-14 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. Thursday, December 20, 2001 5:46 PM Subject: Victim Compensation Sirs: Are victim families individually notified? How is this information getting to them? I am Mother of a victim, but my daughter-in-law should have this available for her use. I just now, on Dec. 20, found web site as result of NYTimes article. Thank you. Individual Comment September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-12-20 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojN000062.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. 2001-12-20 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. Tuesday, January 15, 2002 11:17 PM To Those in charge of the Victims Compensation Fund: I am a 39 year old widow with an 11 year old daughter. Our beloved husband/father was killed in the September 11th attacks while at work on the floor of Tower 2 ( ). It is unfair and unfortunate that survivor benefits (social security and worker's comp) as well as life insurance be deducted from this award. At the very least, no survivor benefits should be deducted. We do not know what ripple effects this tragedy will have on our children. At the very least their futures must be ensured financially, since emotionally there is no repair. Please act in the best interest of our children -- they are our future!!!!! Sincerely, Individual Comment Bayside Hills, NY September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-01-15 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojN001840.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. 2002-01-15 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. Tuesday, December 18, 2001 10:05 PM urgent December 18, 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 Morristown, TN September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-12-18 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojA002409.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2001-12-18 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. Wednesday, December 05, 2001 8:04 PM Equal Respect...Equal Dignity Dear Mr. Zwick: It would be unconscionable for our federal government to discriminate against the survivors of gay and Lesbian 9/11 victims. It's bad enough that OUR government devalues our lives in so many ways already; but now I'm hearing that, in this time of supposed unity, we are still allowing bigotry and mean-spiritedness to rule. To do anything less for survivors simply because they happen to be gay sends a clear signal of how far our elected officials will bend to please bigots. It's time that ALL citizens be treated equally. Yours Truly, Individual Comment Worcester, MA 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 dojA001030.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. Thursday, November 29, 2001 3:28 PM Re: GLBT family compensation To whom it concerns: Please do our country proud by treating ALL citizens equally who lost family members in the September 11th tragedy. Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered family members are no less affected by their losses because current U.S. law prohibits them from "legalizing" their relationships through the channels heterosexual couples and families have available. Please include among relatives eligible for compensation those who lost their life partners or de facto parents or children, regardless of sexual orientation or marital status. Thank you. Individual Comment Amboy, WA September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-11-29 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojA000196.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. 2001-11-29 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. Wednesday, December 05, 2001 9:43 AM Sept. 11 Victim Compensation Fund Kenneth Zwick, Director Office of Management Programs U. S. Department of Justice Dear Sir, As I understand, the Justice Deparment will soon be setting guidelines for deciding who is eligible for compensation under the "September 11 Victim Compensation Fund." I would ask that those guidelines include the life partners of any victims, as well as children they may have shared with their life partners, regardless of marital status or sexual orientation. As you no doubt know, New York Governor Pataki granted benefits through the state of New York "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." I ask that a similar standard be used by the Justice Department. Sincerely Individual Comment Winston-Salem, NC 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 dojA000735.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. Thursday, December 20, 2001 5:26 PM Subject: Equal Access to crisis Relief Benefits for Surviving Gay and Lesbian Partners December 20, 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 Channel Islands, CA September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-12-20 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojN000051.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. 2001-12-20 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. Friday, December 07, 2001 8:39 AM sept 11 victim compensation fund Regarding the "September 11 Victim Compensation Fund," we urge the government to ensure that the regulations governing compensation is available to all surviving families of those killed, INCLUDING the committed partners and non-biological children of gay and lesbian victims. The government MUST show leadership and take a fair stance for ALL citizens. If heterosexual non-married partners and children are compensated, so must those of gay,lesbian, bi-sexual or transgendered partners. We all suffer the same way, PLEASE do not add to the suffering. Individual Comment September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-12-07 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 dojA001261.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. 2001-12-07 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 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, December 27, 2001 2:21 PM EQUAL TREATMENT, PLEASE December 27, 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 State College, PA September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-12-27 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 dojN000901.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. 2001-12-27 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. Monday, November 26, 2001 5:30 PM comments regarding the Victim Compensation Fund My name is . I have looked at the rules and regulations and I have some concerns about the compensation package. In all honesty, I am having difficulty in understanding the intent of this proposed Act. Is it to forego lawsuits against the airlines? airports? NY port authority? Which corporate entities are protected by this Act? * Economic Loss: Many of the people who died were young and in the early stages of their career. Therefore it seems reasonable to me that any method of calculating earning potential would take into consideration the following factors: * The victim's age at death * Their current earnings * Given that we don't know how a person's career would turn out we need to make the same assumptions for all: * their yearly wage would increase * their would be several promotions over the years * Although future income is highly unpredictable it is not for us to make the judgment that a person would make less money as time went on, or even that they wouldn't climb the corporate ladder. I think it would be reasonable to identify the natural career trajectory for someone in their respective field and assume, for purposes of this fund, that most people would follow this course. * That said, I think this should be the norm but there should be some way to challenge this so that a person could successfully challenge the formula and argue that given their track record, education, etc. that they very well could have made more money than the formula allows * In addition, as a person became more financially stable they would be more likely to contribute to the retirement fund - is this fund to be used to compensate individuals for what their retirement funds would have been had they lived? If so, then this numerical amount needs to take that into consideration * Noneconomic Loss: Where a person was located should absolutely be taken into consideration. Those who were on the upper floors and had no avenue of escape suffered in a way that person should have to. In all likelihood they probably watched their co-workers and friends die. They probably watched as they people struggled to take a breath, jumped out the window, or were catasphrocically burned. Imagine being in a building burning 100 stories, or more, high and not being able to get out. Imagine the smoke, the screaming, the realization that you might die. Yes, location was everything. Imagine knowing that the building next to you fell and wondering if, and when, yours would fall. Imagine the streams of water spilling onto you, the incessant noise of the fire detectors, the screaming, the smell of smoke and jet fuel and the absolute panic of not being able to get down. Imagine going to the roof of the building only the door to the exit is locked. Imagine waiting for help and help never comes. * Those on the 50th floor or higher (or so) had other concerns. They could get out but the stairwell was only built for two people. Because the firefighters were going up (bless their souls) only 1 person could come down at a time meaning that far fewer people were able to get out. * There are stories of doors being locked and people unable to get down the stairs. * What about those who were physically challenged and couldn't get out of the building? Their suffering was great as well. Somehow, I believe, that the different scenarios need to be compensated differently. * Collateral Sources: Regarding compensation; whether a person has life insurance, a 401K, or other benefits is of no consequence. Subtracting this amount from a person's compensation is equal to penalizing someone for having life insurance or other benefits. Compensation should be the earnings a person would have a made had their lives not been tragically cut short as a result of their murder. Whether they had life insurance or other benefits is irrespective of their earning potential over the course of a lifetime and ought not to be taken into consideration. * Limitation on civil action: The towers were build to withstand the crash of an airplane yet the fire exits were not adequate for people on the higher level floors to reasonably to get out in case of a fire. Although a crash of this type and magnitude and carrying this much fuel was not foreseen, it was highly foreseeable that a fire or an attack of some sort (remember the 1993 bomb attack on the WTC) could result in people needing to vacate the building quickly. The fact that there was an attempt on this building in 1993 and there were no additional safeguards added so that people on the upper floors could have a reasonable attempt at escape seems negligent to me. The fact that their only avenue of escape may have been the roof but the door was locked again seems negligent. The fact that there were no rescue helicopters helping to rescue people seems negligent. * Who should be compensated: Obviously the next of kin; however there are lots of people suffering. If a victim had a spouse and parents then the parents should have a claim to pain and suffering (e.g., noneconomic losses). These are my initial comments on this Act. I look forward to seeing what shape the final Act looks like. Individual Comment Omaha, NE September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-11-26 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojW000671.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2001-11-26 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. Monday, November 05, 2001 5:07 PM thank you for seeking input on the victims funds. for some time I have felt that the obvious choice would be Rudolph Guiliani. he has been 'knee deep' from the start and has the stature to complete the task with fairness. thank you Individual Comment September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-11-05 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 dojW000029.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. 2001-11-05