I wish I could get a new Finder window launched if I double-click the Finder icon in the dock. Is this possible?
Hyperdock will let you do something similar. It doesn't seem to support double clicking, but I have my system set up so a middle-click on the finder icon opens a new window.

It's also an awesome dock enhancement, and brings the dock much closer to the usability of the windows taskbar (i.e. you can switch to a specific other window without having to use expose or alt-tab).