Meh, I agree with you that exercise in general is most important and like several of your points, but I think that when people go to the gym and lift weights, it's a much more focused, "right now" work, as in this second he might burn 180 calories, but the important thing to remember about cardio exercises is that they promote a far more "overall" health and target many systems at once over a longer duration, whereas say freeweights will target a specific muscle group for a very short period of time. It's very possible to be a world record holding fat fuck (relatively of course), but I don't think you'll ever see a fat runner or swimmer. I know it's flawed because it's a totally different body type, but I'm sure you know what I mean.
My personal experience also defies your logic, but I'm kind of a physical freak so take that as you will. When I was lifting all the time in HS and college, I started off wanting bulk. So I hammered out 5X sets like a mofo and was doing well, stretching out the necks on my Ts and shit but was never that cut (/claim) then I got away from football, started skiing and realized that bulk was my enemy if I wanted to be as agile as possible... so I changed up the game plan, went to 15X sets and focused more on endurance exercises and did cardio. I trimmed down by about 5 lbs but there was a major difference in muscle tone and bulk. I reduced in overall size, but my definition was crazy- I mean I had a fucking 14 pack, when I arguably had been putting in more time with freeweights for years and never got that cut. So I dunno... As good as all that data sounds, I've experienced differently. Not sayin' you're wrong but also different people are different.
Personally for someone just looking to lose weight, I'm having trouble coming up with a better exercise than swimming a lot. Freeweights and the like are good but it's so easy to half ass shit or do it wrong, and the gym sucks sometimes.