I won't wade into this one, but I do have an admiration for a beautiful weld bead (yes, beauty) as well as fine lug work...and I own far more lugged frames than welded.
But to respond to noglider: anyone with a bit of curiosity about aluminum welded frames should hunt down the recorded conversation/interview between Georgena Terry and Richard Schwinn (correct name?) where they talk about steel as their first choice of material for bicycle frames...these are both high-volume bike industry types, not boutique operators or "KOF" framebuilders. It's eye-opening.