[watchit]

I have the same problem but mainly with "start today". I think there's a case for a couple of check boxes in Perspectives... "Started" and "Due". That way you'd be able to have a Perspective with any permutation of other filtering, grouping, sorting, etc, but only see those items that have a start date/time (unless it is a future date/time) and/or those items that are due according to the definition established in prefs.
Like many people, I use Start dates to create lists of the things I want to do at any particular time (usually "Today") but I don't want to have to always work out of a Perspective that is grouped by Start Date.