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 08, 2002 6:53 PM Comment I respectfully request and pray you read this entire message/comment and give it some thought. I am just as sorrowful and sympathetic as anyone for the victims of the 9-11 murders. I fail to see why the taxpayers owe the victims anything, however. The US government doesn't compensate others in the same way. The government didn't compensate the victims of the Murrah building bombing with any special compensation AT ALL, (unless they had a federal pension, insurance or similar policy in place) and they were in a Federal building! That being said, I will accept the argument that the action was an attack against the entire USA, government included, and therefore something could be done, if for no other reason than to avoid even the appearance of our government not caring about its people. Why give such a windfall to them, however? No one on this planet has a guarantee he or shee will be alive tomorrow, much less employed or making at least as much as he or she makes today. Why is the government treating this incident like that fact is not so? Things happen in life and the only things that are guaranteed are death and taxes. That may sound cliche, but it is as true as anything that can be said. To give the survivors upwards of a million dollars and more, up front, is obscene. This essentially guarantees those people who have any skill in managing money a lifetime guarantee of prosperity. No one else gets that. This is not envy. This is a taxpayer asking the government to, FOR ONCE, be responsible with my, and other taxpayers', money. Don't take my word for it. Find out how many of the general public think those survivors should get getting such a windfall. I'll bet it is a minority. MY SUGGESTION: Take the money that is going to be doled out to the victims and put it in a money market account, or some kind of interest earning financial vehicle. Use the interest earned to fund the following benefits to the victims, and when all benefits have been accounted for, retrieve the money and put it back where you got it. (1) Guarantee the victims that all expenses they incurred, be they burial expenses, medical expenses, etc, will be paid for by the government. (2) Guarantee the family members who lost wage-earners the equivalent of the lost salaries, insurance coverage that was covered by their employers, etc, payable monthly or annually, for three years. (This of course would be subject to the same mitigation that is in place now with any life insurance, etc, being considered.) That should give the survivors a chance to get their lives back together and become responsible for themselves. That is what this country is about. I don't see how one can justify just making instant millionaires (from the taxpayers' pockets) out of a bunch of ordinary working people just because they lost a loved one, for whatever reason. This largesse being proposed is being called "Compensation." That money doesn't represent compensation for a loved one. Ask any of the survivors if they'd take even $5 million versus getting their loved ones back. This is being done to make the doers feel good about themselves and look good in the public eye, pure and simple. Otherwise, why not do it a little more sensibly, as I have suggested? It could be done so that it wouldn't cost the taxpayers and it would still help the victims. As for the victims crying about the proposal not being enough, can you spell greed? This country is infamous for the degree with which slick talking lawyers and gullible juries (remember the DuPont implant pseudo-science and the New Mexico hot coffee award? What? Coffee is hot??) hold the country hostage in the guise of reparagions/compensation. Everybody wants a chance to catch that magic ship coming in and the victims all see this as theirs. Again, they say it is not enough, but ask them what they would turn down if they could get their loved ones back. AS you can tell, I am a proponent of Tort reform. I am also a proponent of MY government being fiscally responsible. I imagine I'll go to my grave frustrated on both accounts, but I must try. Individual Comment September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-01-08 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 dojN001459.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. 2002-01-08