@notetaker- very sorry to see you're disappointed. From my experience, the accreditation process works fine, and normally, when a person fails that process, he or she indeed should not be given the credential, sorry to say.
Yes, of course this is somewhat of what you call "an old boys network" - a group of peers, whom share common values, a Code of Ethics, and we even have initiation rites 
.. namely, that you have to sit for an exam, pass, then prove you have worked in the field, and yes, then "one of us", a person that sufficiently knows you, will have to endorse you. And then you are part, indeed, of a network of professionals. I can't, for the life of me, see what is wrong with that.
About the endorsement: my endorser was a friend an collegue of mine, who had worked with me for years, and was honoured that I asked him to endorse me and gladly did so. But I do agree that it is entirely possible to work in the field and not know any (ISC)² certified person that might endorse you. It is exactly for that reason that there is an alternate route: you can be endorsed by (ISC)². But - and that also makes perfect sense to me - given they haven't worked with you, requires additional documentation. I must say that I would not hire a person either when he showed me some sales receipts to prove his trustworthyness and professionalism. Perhaps a few letters of recommendation from your clients would help, or references from people that hired you, stuff like that.
About you not being accepted because you haven't sat "their 4000$ course": from my personal experience I can assure you that that makes no difference whatsoever. I passed my CISSP (and my CCSP, for that matter) by simply ordering the CBK (spending just a few tenners) and studying that. After passing the exam, I then provided my CV and some references, and one of my collegues endorsed me. I got accepted without any problems. So did many other people I know, so - no, that's not the reason.
I can't imagine that you'd need to convey trade secrets to convince (ISC)² that you can be a HCISSP. I most certainly did not have to do that to become a CISSP. However, let's see it from "the old boys" side: there is this gentleman that passes the exam, fails to give sufficient credentials to prove his experience in the field and knows nobody that can endorse him - heck, I'd be hesitant to hire you myself, if you showed me that track record.
You proved to be able to study theory - you passed the exam. But that's not what the (H)CISSP is all about, methinks. It is also about experience and trust, and given that you work in our trade, you should understand that they can't simply take your word for it.
