Clarion 2005-11-03 Vol. 81 No. 09

              Thursday, November 3, 2005
Volume 81 • Number 9
White House
official
indicted
By David Miller
A formal indictment, the
result of a two year long investigation by Special Prosecutor
Patrick Fitzgerald, was issued
last Friday afternoon for Vice
President Dick Cheney's Chief of
Staff, I. Lewis Libby. "Scooter",
as Libby is known to Washington insiders, was charged with
five criminal accounts stemming
from the investigation into who
leaked the identity of covert CIA
agent Valerie Wilson.
However, to the surprise of
many, Libby faced no charges
for leaking the name of a covert
agent, which is the issue at the
heart of this controversy. Libby
instead faces charges of perjury,
obstruction of justice, and making false statements. Upon facing the indictment, Libby immediately rendered his resignation
as the vice president's chief of
staff. In a statement following
his resignation, Libby said, "1
have conducted my responsibilities honorably and truthfully, including with respect to this
investigation."
An additional sigh of relief
could be felt coming from the
White House as the president's
top political advisor and deputy
chief of staff, Karl Rove, managed to avoid facing any indictments this week. Many political
and legal analysts had speculated Rove, since holding the
White House position in this investigation, would undoubtedly
face criminal prosecution.
But despite the lack of immediate charges against Rove,
Fitzgerald said Rove remains
under investigation for the leak,
and legal analysts have said he
is not off the hook yet. As the
indictments raise concern both
inside the Beltway and out,
Bethel students are looking to
make sense of the White House
scandal.
Some students have voiced
major concerns and outrage
over the recent investigations
and indictment. "I'm very concerned about what is happening
inside the Bush administration's
White House right now. The investigation into who leaked the
name of a covert agent raises
some serious questions about
the integrity of this administration, and I think all students
should be concerned," said BU
senior Justin Holmertz, a political science major.
Former White House intern
and senior economics major
Josh Lucas said, "An indictment
is nothing more than a formal
accusation. It doesn't mean he
is guilty. Libby hasn't been convicted, and it's not fair that so
many feel it necessary to preju-
dicate those involved in the investigation." Lucas also said that
now is a prime moment for the
Bush administration to revamp
its image with the American
public. "Reagan experienced the
same sort of situation in his second term with the Iran-Contra
scandal and Oliver North. But
he managed to swing the pendulum back into his favor by
the time he left office."
The investigation and recent indictments also raise the
larger question of the argument
for war in Iraq. Many of the
war's critics have claimed that
the ousting of.a CIA agent, possibly for political reasons, strikes
a serious blow to the legitimacy
of the of Bush administration's
logic for war. But others have
suggested that even if this was
retribution, it may have been
well deserved if Joseph and Valerie Wilson were purposefully
setting the up Bush administration to fail.
Face to face with devastation
Five Bethel students encounter aftermath of Hurricane Katrina
By Mel Johnson
We pulled into Pass Chrislian after midnight on Friday
night, and the devastation was
shocking, even in the dark.
On Friday, Oct. 21, four
Bethel students and 1 were driving down to Pass Christian,
Miss., to help out with the hurricane relief. Through a series
of random connections, Emily
Backes, Anna Olson, Aaron Kelly, Amy Mikul and 1 had joined
a weekend trip with Campus
Crusade for Christ from the U of
M, and we were about to spend
twenty-five hours on a bus traveling down to the Gulf Coast to
help wherever we were needed.
All the ditches on the side
of the road were filled with debris; there were overturned cars
on each side of the road, and
there was abandoned gas station. Houses everywhere were
torn from their foundations. We
spent that night in our bus, and
woke up early to help with the
cleanup around the town.
During the first day, the
team of 48 people split up and
worked all over the community
of Pass Christian, which consisted of 6,000 inhabitants before Katrina hit, but now was
deserted as we drove through
the streets. We were assigned to
all kinds of projects. We helped
in family homes, churches,
and even office buildings. We
moved wet possessions out of
homes, pulled out hundreds of
nails, and tore out wet drywall
and insulation.
Some of the homes near the
shore had been submerged under 40 feet of water, and nearly
everything inside had been ruined. Mikul commented, "Everything in one woman's house
was destroyed and we had to
basically throw everything away.
We kept commenting on how
big we were making the pile
and how far we have come, yet
these are this woman's things. .
.she is hurting because those are
the things of her life; everything
was ruined."
Nearly all of the homes
were either condemned or still
uninhabitable. Some community members lived in tents or
campers near their homes, or
had left to seek shelter in other
communities. All the remaining residents of Pass Christian
congregated three times daily in
the FEMA relief tent for meals,
alongside all of the relief workers.
While we ate in the FEMA
tent, we were able to meet several residents of the town and hear
their stories and experiences.
Many of them were dependent
upon the relief assistance, and
some hadn't used a real toilet
or shower in weeks. It had been
eight weeks since Hurricane
Katrina had hit Pass Christian,
and there were still hundreds of
people without homes, electricity, or water. There was still an
enormous amount of debris that
covered the town.
At night, we slept outside,
only a few hundreds yards from
the Gulf Shore, on the foundation of a destroyed dentist's office. There were mangled dentist's chairs and tools a few feet
from where we slept, the only
remnants left of the building. It
was all rather surreal for us to
see.
After working for only two
days, we left to drive back to
Minnesota, and the town of Pass
Christian still looked quite the
same. In a conversation with
one resident, he speculated
that the cleanup could take two
to three years. There is still so
much left to do.
The five of us from Bethel
came home from our weekend in Mississippi with many
thoughts and questions about
Photos by
possessions, social class, poverty, and tragedy. After watching weeks of hurricane coverage
on the news, in one weekend
we finally encountered the true
reality of this tragedy It will be
hard to forget this close encounter with the devastation in Pass
Christian.
Amy Mikul, Anna Olson, Aaron Kelly, Emily Backes, and Mel Johnson
spent.a weekend cleaning up after Hurricane Katrina.
Halloween
brought out
the best
Arden East was one of many residences to throw a costume
contest for the best Halloween costume.
Pawlenty creates faith and community service council
Council to strengthen ties between religious groups and government
By Meika Vogel
Governor Tim Pawlenty
has observed the importance of
faith-based and community organizations in the wake of tragedies such as hurricanes Katrina
and Rita where such groups
provided much needed support
in addition to the government's
response.
Pawlenty announced the
creation of the Minnesota Council of Faith and Community Service Initiatives on Friday, Oct. 7.
The council was created by an
executive order in an effort to
make it easier for faith-based
and community organizations
to acquire funding and work
around government regulations
to provide social services.
With the creation of the
council, Minnesota joins more
than 20 other stales that have
similar programs. The council
is also comparable to the federal
Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives created by
President Bush.
Pawlenty noted in a news
release that while serving those
in need, such organizations are
able to provide a more personal
and human aspect than government agencies.
With respect to the impact of the council, Professor
Bill Johnson, a political science
professor, said, "1 believe it can
be beneficial if it links the many
faith-based communities and
organizations with public agencies, to enable those communities to provide high-quality services where they can serve best,
and let the agencies know who
can do the work well."
The council will be made
up of 15 members and an executive director appointed by
Pawlenty. Through resources
such as a website listing available government funding opportunities, the council will advise faith-based and community
organizations on ways in which
they can work together with
government agencies and ensure that funding is available to
proper groups. The council will
work with a $175,000 budget
over the next two years to complete such tasks.
While many citizens, along
with Pawlenty, see benefits the
council will have on. the state,
some    groups    have    already
voiced strong opposition. The
Freedom from Religion Foundation, a Wisconsin-based group,
fears that the council will end
up being an unconstitutional
government support of religion, and that tax dollars will be
used for evangelism by religious
groups. The group is already
preparing lawsuits against olher
states with similar councils and
is watching the activities of the
Minnesota council carefully.
So far, no faith-based initiative
councils have been found to
violate the first amendment.
While the creation of this
council has the opportunity to
benefit the Christian community in Minnesota by expanding
its opportunities and resources
for service, lhe impact of the
council is far broader. Faith-
based organizations include
many groups, such as churches, mosques, synagogues, and
charities like the Salvation
Army. "The council can get the
best image if it operates openly
and makes sure that when faith-
based organizations do get public support, it is for high-quality sen-ices without favoritism
for particular denominations or
churches," said Johnson.
y