any way to have index.php not be the main page?

i’ve just set up wordpress, and i want it to be used with a control panel i’m working on. i already have the system set up, it’s pretty and all phpized and stuff, so all i’m setting the wordpress layout to only be a part of the page so I can include it. everyone with me? mmkay.
well, i currently have it one directory up from all my pages. so when i go to include wordpress/index.php, i get muchos errors about accessing the database. of course the easy fix is changing
require(‘./wp-blog-header.php’);
to
require(‘wordpress/wp-blog-header.php’);
but that still renders everything else pretty much useless (comments, etc…) i see no easy way around that one (unless you all do, in which case it would save me tons of trouble), so my next gut instinct is to install it in the same folder. but i already have an index.php! i’ve looked around like mad, but i can’t find a place that lets me change the place of postage from index.php to, say, news.php. anyone have any ideas? if you need me to show you so you can see what’s going on, lemme know.