AVCHD "standard"

It's great that the standard gives manufacturers so many incompatible format to choose from.
Even better the native files stored on the memory card are nothing like the files on HD.
Fantastic that you can't copy or move the files on HD without destroying the video.

There's got to be a way to convert these to a common format that is editable.
JVC and Panasonic use incompatible storage on HD.
Do I have to produce DVDs and then reload those back into something like Premiere ?
Or are there 3rd party tools that can take all these files and make them usable?

No, premiere version cs4 (and I am sure many other editing applications) now offer native support for AVCHD. In premiere's case you can use premieres built in media browser to navigate to the files. Premiere recognises them as avchd and automatically displays them as one file not the mess of separate audio and video files and folders that they are!

I am not sure about copying them, however again with premiere you can consolidate your project and it will automatically copy all your files to the project folder you nominate. You can also tell it to delete unused clips and unused portions of clips so you can use this to archive your project without your bloated rushes. - Did I mention that I really like premiere CS4!

I'd better go and get CS4 then.