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 22, 2002 2:32 PM Victim's Compensation I have two significant concerns relative to my understanding of the victims compensation guidelines. First, I am concerned by the precedent that offering any compensation at all sets for future (and past) terrorist activities. The United States Government is not in the least responsible for the actions taken by the September 11 terrorists, and so I wonder why the government would offer compensation. To me, an offer to pay seems to admit some level of responsibility. Also, what makes the victims of September 11 any more damaged than victims of any other terrorist (domestic or foreign) act? Yet, to my knowledge, we did not and do not offer or promise similar compensation to other victims or their families. I believe that compensation to victims should be limited to that which is available to them from private (non-government) charities. Second, if compensation is to be paid, why should the amount be reduced by the victim's life insurance, pension, or other benefits? This would seem to be penalizing those people who plan for the uncertainties of life. All of the unfortunate victims of September 11 were much more likely to lose their life on the way to or from work than to die in a terrorist attack. People who understand the everyday risks of life set money aside to protect their family should an accident occur. They sacrifice today's pleasures to provide security for tomorrow. Yet, the victim's compensation guidelines, as I understand them, will now make those investments in security worthless. The victim's compensation guidelines will do this by reducing their family's payout by the amount of protection that THEY PURCHASED during their lifetime. This would certainly not encourage a person to demonstrate such responsibility in the future. I believe that, if compensation is to be paid, all victims should be treated equally. To me, that means each person should receive exactly the same payout regardless of what other protections they had purchased during their lifetime. Those who provided additional security for their family should not be penalized. That's my input. Please understand I feel a great deal of compassion for all the victims of September 11. I personally have contributed to many of the private agencies who provide relief to victims. I'm just concerned by the precedents we will now set in terms of compensation from the federal government. Thank you for the opportunity to provide input. Individual Comment Midland, MI September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-01-22 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 dojN002277.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. 2002-01-22