Love and logic

A woman (grandma) with two boys, about 7 and 9 maybe, was ahead of me in line at the grocery store today. She was, in her own words, "At her wit's end with two naughty boys." The lowlight of this scene was when she threatened to "take them to grandpa's, and then see how long you two keep up acting like this."
The cashier strongly encouraged the customs to find Love and Logic on the internet. I only dug into it a little on my phone, and much of it seems to be about natural consequences to get the parent out of the role of police/prison guard. However, I was struck by one piece of advice: don't debate or argue at all with your child. Basically, just explain what happened to them (e.g. will have to save to buy a new bike) and why (because they left it unlocked and it was stolen). Whether this tactic will be effective I can't say, but I certainly don't think it belongs in a program called love and LOGIC! Parents are instructed to simply repeat, "I love you to much to argue." No matter what the child says, just repeat the mantra. To me that's the height of illogic. That much I know I don't like, but the rest sounds a bit fishy, too.
For one thing, it sounds like authoritarian parenting with a very benevolent face. Is this mantra just a passive-aggressive "because I said so?" For another, the desire for natural consequences seems motivated not by any view that parents shouldn't impose punishments, but instead by a desire to absolve the parents of responsibility in the children's eyes, and thus avoid any negative feelings toward the parents by the children.
Just a few of my thoughts.