Here's my minimal.org.el file:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
;;; -*- mode: emacs-lisp -*-
(add-to-list 'load-path (expand-file-name "~/src/emacs/org/org-mode/lisp"))
(add-to-list 'load-path (expand-file-name "~/src/emacs/org/org-mode/contrib/lisp"))

(add-to-list 'auto-mode-alist '("\\.\\(org\\|org_archive\\|txt\\)$" . org-mode))

(require 'org)

(setq debug-on-error t)
(setq debug-on-quit t)
(setq eval-expression-print-length nil)
(setq eval-expression-print-level nil)

(global-set-key "\C-cl" 'org-store-link)
(global-set-key "\C-ca" 'org-agenda)
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

here's the foo.org:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
* TODO A							       :home:
  SCHEDULED: <2013-08-06 Tue>
* TODO B							       :work:
  SCHEDULED: <2013-08-06 Mon>
* TODO C							       :play:
  SCHEDULED: <2013-08-06 Mon>
* TODO D							       :home:
  SCHEDULED: <2013-08-06 Tue>
* TODO E							       :work:
  SCHEDULED: <2013-08-06 Mon>
* TODO F							       :play:
  SCHEDULED: <2013-08-06 Mon>
* TODO G							       :home:
  SCHEDULED: <2013-08-06 Mon>
* TODO H							       :work:
  SCHEDULED: <2013-08-06 Mon>
* TODO I							       :play:
  SCHEDULED: <2013-08-06 Mon>
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

and here's the command line:

    emacs -Q -l minimal.org.el foo.org

Can we get some more votes perhaps? If people try the above recipe
(subject to any corrections Matt might have), does emacs go into an
infinite loop?

I haven't read through the rest of your mail yet (let alone tried
anything) but I'll try to do that later tonight.

-- 
Nick