Nothing So Strange is an excellent movie on numerous levels. On one level, its a straightforward documentary of one group’s attempt to investigate the assassination of Bill Gates in MacArthur Park. The film pieces together newsreel footage, computer simulations, and police reports about the event to tell more of the story that you may have gotten from the traditional media.

At another level, it’s a story about how citizen groups with great intentions and good talent can go so badly wrong (as we see all the time) with internal squabbles, leadership problems, and motivational difficulties.

In our world, of course, none of this ever happened — Bill Gates was never killed — and so the movie is a rumination on political assasinations and police coverups. In fact, the film’s most frightening part, the story of Julia Serrano, actually happened in the Robert Kennedy investigation.

On the Web, the whole thing is played deadpan like the movie (which has such a strong aversion to breaking characters that even the credits pretend its a documentary and don’t give the actors’s names) with a dozen separate web sites about the shooting.

Even better, the filmmakers have truly embraced the Web allowing you to download the film with micropayments and remix the factual footage under a Creative Commons license.

The film is an innovative experiment in numerous ways and put together solidly and with polish. If any of these topics interest you, I recommend shelling out the couple of bucks it takes to watch it.

Watch now.

So the other day I was thinking about who would win the US 2004 presidential election. Previously, when it seemed absolutely absurd (he was neck-and-neck with Kucinich), I predicted Howard Dean would be the next president. (Now it doesn’t seem so absurd!) Now I’m going to go farther and predict it won’t even be close.

Why? It’s not because I like Dean. (I don’t — as Dave Winer points out he’s a bland politician with no innovative policy proposals and bland conservative positions on the issues. Well, except for campaign finance reform.) It’s partly because I like Joe Trippi. (He, not Dean, is the one to be watching and voting for — if anyone can beat Bush it’s him.) But mostly it’s because Bush has no redeeming qualities.

I was trying to imagine the campaign a few months out: Bush v. Dean. Dean can easily go on the offensive, attacking Bush’s failures and promoting his own successes. But what can Bush do? What has Bush done? Hey, what has Bush done? I honestly can’t think of anything.

So here’s the challenge: name one good thing Bush has done for the average American.

Rules:

1. Bush has to have actually worked for the thing. It can’t be something he was forced to do, or was done by one of his administrative departments (like the EPA), or that he didn’t really work to support (like just signing a bill).

2. It has to be good for the average American, the plain old middle-class guy who’s in the majority on issue polls, is out of a job or isn’t making much money, and just wants to get along. It can’t be a minor gift to a group of special interest voters, or something like that.

3. It has to benefit him directly, not as a side-effect (so no trickle-down economics stuff).

4. The majority of it has to be designed to benefit him, he can’t just get benefits because he’s on the tail end of the curve (so no tax cuts where the bottom 80% get under 10% of the money).

I tried to think of things with no success.

Health Care: The new prescription drug benefit is a giveaway to the drug companies, only helps a seniors, and won’t take effect for a decade.

Education: Bush’s plan would make all schools just as bad as the ones in Texas, and even then he underfunded it.

Tax Cuts: Vast majority went to the rich, while the small people working still get hit by other types of taxes.

Defense: Dropped the ball on Afghanistan, Al-Qaeda, and Osama and instead went after Iraq, a country that previously posed no threat, making it a haven for terrorists.

Environment: Loosened environmental regulations on everything from poison in drinking water to pollution in air.

I’ve tried asking a few people I know in real life with no success, but I really do want to know, so I’m holding a contest. I’ll publish every winning answer here along with the first person to suggest it. If I receive any, I’ll donate to the Bush campaign an amount proportional to the significance of the achievement. (So $2000 if he eliminates homelessness, poverty, and provides single-payer health care but only $3 if he trips and accidentally signs a law making my car safer.)

Submit your entry now! Send an email or post a comment.

When a group of eighth graders wrote "get well" letters to their heart attack-stricken English teacher, I don't know what was more likely to kill him -- their sentiments or their spelling and grammar. (01-13) [Cruel Site of the Day]

The link.

McDonald's erotica.(01-16) [Cruel Site of the Day]