Richard, maybe this could illustrate to what I was referring.
http://home.neo.rr.com/nikko/images/...sformTools.jpg
Two rectangles were combined into one object, leaving a hole in the center. Selecting the points in the center and using the scale tool allows one to scale the size of the hole, from any point or from the center. The same goes for the Rotate tool, working just like the tools in Xara that can affect the entire object, with a movable center of rotation.

Does that make more sense?