Linux Mint substitute: I need help

[Steve Litt]

Hi all,

I'm trying to create a Linux Mint substitute in the easiest possible way, 
whatever that turns out to be. I see the benefits of Mint (to the great 
unwashed, not necessarily to Geeks) as the following:

1) Installs on almost anything.
2) Easy and quick install.
3) Works out of the box
        A) Including non free things
                i) Codecs
                ii) NDISwrapper
                iii) Other common programs
4) More intuitive and navigable user interface

The problem with Linux Mint is they implemented a political litmus test for 
their contributors and presumably their community members:

http://eclelef.blogspot.com/2009/05/palestine_03.html

That post was originally posted on the official MINT blog and never retracted.

I plan to create some sort of Mint substitute with Mint's advantages, but 
without the political baggage. It would be open to all political persuasions: 
Tamil or Sinhalese, North or South Korean, Kach or Hezbollah.

Having neither the brains nor the time to create a forked version, my initial 
plan is the following:

1) Study Mint to find its advantages and how it gains them.
2) Using scripts and maybe a few apps, Tweak Ubuntu to gain those advantages
3) In the long run, support a distro with Mint's advantages but without Mint's 
political baggage.

Once again, Mint isn't a Geek distro, but if you're like me and have to 
support Linux users who just want a working computer, it has big advantages. 
If anyone wants to help me with this, please let me know.

Thanks

Steve Litt
http://www.troubleshooters.com