CC is a powerful tool and one of my most hated/loved mods I'm glad it exists I hate that it's exploited in the very same way you've said, Saice. Mob grinders are about all I use them for and any other things I try to automate myself without it. After getting up my first sorting system with redpower 2 going on my previous world I grinned, I grinned so widely that it hurt the day after.. I also stared at it working for an hour. First time using a turtle it worked and I left it alone. Nothing was special, no awe, nada. That is one of my reasons for loving automation in other forms instead of CC.
An example of not needing CC was in the most recent direwolf vid of "pink pong" He did a needlessly complex design for the scoring system with CC when AE could have handled that easily on it's own. Yet Dire is a programmer, he thinks like a programmer and for me that's not creative. That's not how the game was intended to be played so it is why I try to stay away from CC unless it is absolutely the last option even if it's the best. I can easily tell a computer to execute commands but what happens to the computer when it comes in contact with an unknown variable... it halts. When I build a system that comes into an unknown variable it's able to better handle it then just halting operation or a kink in the cogs if you will..
My sorting system pre-redpower 2 (back when I wasn't using it even tho it was enabled) Had a golem overflow system, worked like a charm and didn't lose a thing in the insane amount of time I played. I must admit some of my issues is the fact I am not 100% on the in's and outs of computercraft but I still know enough to understand I simply like doing things in a challenging way instead of going, "Oh I can CC my entire system to never lose anything and deal in exacts and can exactly pull items out and put them in and make monkies and love crackers with pandas offering me bamboo every 20 seconds while I listen to Serj Tenaka and see if 'Empty Walls' speaks to me.." wait... what was the original thought? ugh... I need to sleep..
BTW I'm going with your redstone clock method there Saice since it's more reliable in the long run.