I think most of your complaints are legitimate. Every system reflects tradeoffs and Ripple is not trying to be all things to all people. But I have to disagree with this part:
How did it go from a interesting and potentially worthwhile addition to the cryptocoin ecosystem to what basically amounts to "just another premined altcoin"? Frankly, the whole things sounds like something RealSolid would have come up with now. 
The point is to allow people to transact in fiat currencies much the same way they transact in Bitcoins. Bitcoin is a currency with a built in payment system for that currency. Ripple is a Bitcoin-like payment system for any currency. "Ripple isn't a good currency" is a great rebuttal to an argument nobody's making.