Bekeologist, it sounds as though you might be the mystery customer Grant wrote about in his reader????
Seriously ....all that pent up resentment oozing out is bad for the soul!

The solution to not liking someones business philosophy is to not do business with them.
I have been a Rivendell customer these past couple of years (havn't purchased a bike yet) and I will probably have to purchase a LHT but I do think a semi production Riv bike to be worth the money and certainly their full custom frame is. Because of a lack of available low cost lugged frames I have been forced to restore two mid late 70's to early 80's "touring" frames and I credit Grant with confirming what I already knew from experience riding back in my twenties and that is: Wool is great, lugged steel frames are nice to look at and when made right are durable, more upright bars are comfy, especially now that I am over 40, brooks saddles are what keep me off my recumbent half the time, wider tires are less prone to flatting and soften the bumps, long wheelbase bikes with good clearances make good sense for 95% of the riders here in the N.W., Bags are nice to carry stuff on a bike instead of leaving it home, riding without clips is possible and you don't go any slower (pg.118 Bicycling Medicine by Arnie Baker M.D. explains that one) and finally you don't need special "bike" clothing to ride a bike, in fact you don't even need special clothing to be comfortable. I've tried all the new gimicks and some newer style bikes and have returned to what I know works, is practical, durable and sensible. If Grant made/makes mistakes
then it only proves he is a human being.