Snow Leopard is the first MacOS with a fully 64-bit-capable kernel. It defaults to 32-bit mode on most machines or on any Mac with 32-bit kexts loaded. So you're right, a network stack doesn't need to be 64-bit, but loading it would force a 32-bit kernel and a 4GB app RAM limit. Apple is trying to wean users and especially developers away from 32-bit code. At the WWDC they kept repeating "Don't be the last guy to load 32-bit libraries! Those libraries will go away someday soon."
AppleTalk isn't relevant to the user base except nuts like us who keep old Macs, and there aren't enough of us to make it worth maintaining. These are the same screams as were heard when floppies went away, and serial ports, and SCSI ports. The only time I remember Apple has backed down over user protests was dropping FireWire from the MacBook. Apple responds a lot more quickly to Steve than to its users.
There are articles about Snow Leopard, 64-bitness, which parts are new, etc. in every Mac magazine, on Apple's web site, and many blogs. I commend them to your attention. Bitching to me doesn't do any good. I don't think Steve reads this board.