"I remember seeing a post at the old MSNBC Space board where it mentioned a top manager at United Space Alliance working with one of NASA's plants in the design of a new shuttle. This 'new' shuttle looked very much like our current model, but it was or would be modified to all specs while leaving room for additional improvements. Our shuttle fleet is getting old, but staying alive with refurbishing... something old is bound to give. Sorry, I don't have the specifics on that post, still, it's the best idea I've seen so far (even after seeing these latest ideas)."

Hmm. Generally the idea has merit. But that's "upgrading the Shuttle".
SLI, was suppose to a new Space Launch Initiative. NASA has for years failed to significantly upgrade the Shuttle- they wanted 5 billion to "simply" upgrade the solid booster to fly back booster. Upgrading the Shuttle should be a fairly simple- much easier than building from stratch. One reason we "may" to getting these crappy designs is that it is actually simply another NASA attempt to get a huge pot of money for their "pet shuttle upgrades".
Anyways, the elephant in the room, is why is NASA operating any space launcher. Why not sell the orbitors and let the private sector decide what they want to do to improve the Shuttle- they certainly would spend 5 billion to upgrade the solid boosters- doesn't make any sense.