At the expense of sounding cold, calloused and politically incorrect, I have to say that I think the screams for "compensation" by victims families has gone far enough. Each of these families stand to gain well over a million dollars each, whether from the charitable funds or through insurance payments. Despite their moaning over the Federal government's calculation methods which might result in some familes getting nothing from the charitable funds - that "nothing" from the fund is a result of huge payments to the families from other sources. It was announced yesterday that these families will not have to pay any Federal Taxes over the next two years.

My issue is this: This was a horrible, tragic event affecting many, many lives. However, families lose loved ones everyday, whether through violence, illness, foreseen or unforeseen events. I am appalled at the the level of entitlement these Sept. 11 families are expressing. I saw one "spokeperson" on the news complaining that the families were being unfairly portrayed as "money hungry, greedy sharks". Yeah, I couldn't have put it better myself.

__________________
Nothing like a big woodie first thing in the morning and before going to bed at night.

I'd have to agree with you, BrooklynRider. Certainly they're entitled to some compensation if only to get them through the tough times by having lost not only a loved one, but a financial provider. But seriously! You make an excellent point about families losing loved ones every day through numerous circumstances not their fault.

Let's consider two children -- one whose father was killed in the World Trade Center, one whose father was killed at the exact same time, but in Kansas (just picked a state not involved) by a drunk driver as he went to work that morning. Neither father died through anything they did wrong, but purely by accident. Yes, the father in NY was "risking his life" to do his job, but that's something those men are well aware of when they take those jobs. Yet the child whose father died in the WTC would now stand to not pay taxes, be recognized and awarded for surviving such a tough time, and would even be given scholarships for the event. The child whose father was killed by a drunk, however, would stand to have to battle through legal cases and insurance salesmen in order to get any settlement at all, and certainly there would be no scholarships given to them "just because."

I know it sounds cold and heartless, but come on people... How can you expect to move on with your lives if you're always looking backwards? I don't know how much of the complaining and "grabbing" the actual families involved are doing, but I know that if it were me, I'd have taken enough to keep myself going (and many thanks for it) until I could make up the difference myself, and then I'd not take another penny, no matter what charity or celebrity tried to shove it down my throat.

__________________
Walk Beyond...

Thanks Melissa. I pretty much set myself up to be flamed.

I find myself becoming more and more alienated from these survivors and relatives of victims. In the days following September 11th, we all seemed to united as one, acting out of kindness and compassion, being charitablde in tangible and intangible ways.

The situation I am seeing now is one my friends and I predicted as the monetary donations kept mounting. We all said, "It's going to get ugly." I notice that none of the families ever discuss what they ARE going to receive. They just keep talking about their concern that they will "net zero" from the charitable fund.

Although I was initially against the proposal, I now FULLY support a public database disclosing the distribution of these funds.

I think they and their lawyers are sniffing down the money trail and their lack of sincerity can hardly be concealed behind their veil of alleged mourning.

__________________
Nothing like a big woodie first thing in the morning and before going to bed at night.

I must say, I agree with you 2. Too me it seems like a bribe. The families get a bunch of money, they don't sue the airlines or WTC or WTC building company, the economy doesn't go down b/c of lawsuits. Thats the way I see all this money being given out.

__________________
Life is a rollercoaster, enjoy it, b/c the ride is always too short (If someone's already said this, sorry, I didn't mean to rip it off ya)