Question: I'm looking for some video editing software that runs under linux, and has the capability to do simple tasks (specifically, cutting video clips, joining video clips and maybe even encoding to something like xvid) via the command line (which I hope to script).

Basically what I need to do is to be able to hand a certain script a video file and a handful of time codes. The script with then call the video editing software via command line and hand it the location of the video and which time(s) to cut out of it. The script will then call the video software again to join the cut segments and then, if possible, encode/compress them.

I'd be willing to PayPal money anyone to helps answer this question (AUD only)

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You can do this with mencoder, using the ss and endpos parameters.
For example, to keep only from 1:25 to 2:45 of video.avi, you'd use the following command :

mencoder -ss 1:25 -endpos 1:20 -oac copy -ovc copy video.avi -o part1.avi

Then, to join the segments :

mencoder -oac copy -ovc copy -o output.avi part*.avi

Or you can encode them directly, for example in xvid with default encoding options :

mencoder -oac copy -ovc xvid -o output.avi part*.avi

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That's good to know.I'm Planning to change my OS because I think my Laptop is slowing down because of my OS.and my friend recommend me to Linux.