As I mentioned in [1], I've volunteered to clear out the TODO list of items that appear to be too difficult, controversial, or otherwise not worth doing to warrant being listed there. I'll be working a few sections at a time, and every so often I'll have a list of proposed items for removal. If I don't hear objections, I'll remove the items after a few days while going through the next set.
I'm totally on board with cleaning the list up, but how about marking as "won't fix" (or similar) instead of actually removing the items? That should help to prevent the same exact items from appearing on the list again, which they eventually would, I believe.