Flexible Path? What?

Augustine Commission pretty much recommends in its report what it calls
"Flexible Path" - wide array of potential targets to be visited by manned
spacecraft as a precursor to manned Mars mission. These include Near Earth Asteroids,
moons of Mars, Lagrange points etc. It has got blogosphere all excited.

Is there something I'm not getting there? Because quite frankly, that sounds like
biggest idiocy I've heard for long long time. I mean, what there is in Lagrange points
for humans to do? They are just empty space. Manned mission to NEO sounds like one of
big cost for limited return. And why would anyone want a mission where astronauts go through
all the trouble and tedous transit to Mars, only not land there?

Another thing: Augustine Commission supports orbital refueling to get around launch
vehicle limitations. Is this really practical? Because it sure doesn't sound like it would be.