The thing to remember about freedom is that it is not given, it is taken

I have been impatiently waiting to hear Mr Brown's side of the story, and had expected his resignation a while ago. It's the smart thing to do. This man was (as far as I can tell) a smarmy connected lawyer with no background in emergency response or management, and he was out of his league. I cannot imagine what the justification was for his appointment, and after the fiasco that befell the woefully unprepared City that Care Forgot, I imagine that Mr Brown just wishes he could disappear from the public eye completely.

It is important that I leave now to avoid further distraction from the ongoing mission of FEMA. It has been an honor and a privilege to serve this president and to work shoulder to shoulder with the hard-working men and women of FEMA.

Thank you Mr Brown. I actually agree with this statement from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA);

President Bush's next FEMA director must be a qualified emergency-response professional with the leadership experience to manage this disaster and future emergencies.

Well, if we are going to have a FEMA, then yes, it should be competent, and its head should be qualified. Does this really need to be said? Well, apparently it does. Now that Mr Brown is out, the acting director of FEMA is R. David Paulison, head of the U.S. Fire Administration (part of FEMA). So far, he hasn't botched anything, so this is a step in the right direction.