Meanwhile calls are increasing for heads to roll within the Bush administration over the federal government’s slow response to the disaster. On Sunday the Times-Picayune newspaper of New Orleans published an open letter to President Bush calling for the firing of Michael Brown, the director at FEMA — the Federal Emergency Management Agency — as well every other top official at the agency. The paper wrote, “Our people deserved rescuing. Many who could have been were not. That’s to the government’s shame.” Despite the widespread criticism, President Bush publicly praised Brown on Friday during his visit to the region. The President said, “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job.”