Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. Monday, March 18, 2002 11:53 AM 9/11 Fund Discrimination I have recently heard that the fund relies on state laws in determining who benefits from the fund. As a result, most same-sex partners of those who died in the attacks will not be eligible for such benefits. According to a statement supposedly made by Feinberg on March 10, 2002, he is not responsible for determining who gets these funds. He leaves that decision to the states once they receive those funds and that if the states choose to discriminate against same-sex partners of victims, it is out of his control. I believe this argument to be false. Feinberg has every right to encourage states to extend benefits from the fund to same-sex partners of victims. If it is true that illegal aliens and unborn children will benefit, there is no reason why same-sex partners could not as well. This form of discrimination undermines the very attempt at bringing all Americans together. As far as not having the power to tell the states how to distribute the money granted by the fund, why not simply deny the funds to states who choose to discriminate against any of the victims' families and loves ones, gay or straight, black or white, etc.. Federal funds for transportation departments can be denied to states that do not make laws for lowering speed limits or that make not wearing seat belts illegal. True, it could be that implementing these laws will decrease state costs and improve transportation; but, by allowing all victims' loved ones to benefit from the fund, the fund would improve society's morale overall, not limited to certain victims. I encourage Feinberg and the rest of those in charge of the 9/11 fund to reconsider their positions on fund distribution, to include all victims' families and loved ones. All those directly affected by the attacks are hurting/were hurt, and the pain is the same regardless of race, religion, age or sexual orientation. Thank you for taking time to read my opinion. Individual Comment September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-03-18 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojR001868.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