Getting back to basics -- the point of any organizer is to help you know what you need to be doing now. The calendar model is only partly helpful in getting there -- it's a good repository for "happens on this date" events like meetings, but not so good for deadline dates, which show up on the date they need to be done by (not when you need to be doing them). I don't know what the solution is, but I don't think you can use the same tool to solve both problems.
Getting back to basics -- the point of any organizer is to help you know what you need to be doing now. The calendar model is only partly helpful in getting there -- it's a good repository for "happens on this date" events like meetings, but not so good for deadline dates, which show up on the date they need to be done by (not when you need to be doing them). I don't know what the solution is, but I don't think you can use the same tool to solve both problems.