I really don't want you to think that I'm trying to drag this out or make it an argument or trash your opinion because this is a really fascinating topic and personally I'm only just starting on my journey into meditation so it's almost certain you have more experience of it than me (particularly in relation to lucid dreaming). But I'm going to make one more last ditch attempt to convince you.
I think that your conclusions are very reasonable if you've been taught meditation from certain schools of buddhism, when I first started researching the subject I was surprised to find buddhism to be a very different beast to my preconceptions, wanting to see lucid dreaming in a buddhist framework I read 'The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep'. While undeniably brilliant for what it was, I found the prescriptive nature of the teaching (the tone was basically 'follow these instructions to the letter and find a buddhist lama to teach you or don't bother reading on) and the focus on deities in what I'd previously thought to be a secular belief system to be off-putting.
I think part of your issue with meditation is that you've simply not found the right meditation for you, both in practice, intellectually and on a lucid dreaming level. In his book 'Lucid Dreaming: The Gateway to the Inner Self', Robert Waggoner discusses the sanskrit concept found in some buddhist practices called 'maya'. Maya carries several levels of meaning, it stands for the self and creation and, crucially for our purposes, illusion. Maya states that all experience, not only dreams but also waking life, is an illusion created by the self. While in a purely buddhist framework the term is used to illustrate all kinds of metaphysical baggage about self inflicted suffering, in a lucid dreaming context 'maya' is a fantastic approach to cultivating awareness. I'm dreaming this keyboard, my mind is interpreting sensory perception and creating the feel and sounds of the keys, this bedroom is a dream, everyday my experiences are a dream, etc. I hope that this is starting to sound more up your alley :) Maya (illusion) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
It's true that some approaches to meditation put very strict definitions on the practice and probably would produce a false short term boost due to the power of suggestion but with little long term power. But some approaches to meditation do genuinely cultivate awareness of self and that awareness can easily be applied to testing the nature of reality. I've been reading a wonderful e-book on vipasanna meditation and I think you may find it more suitable to the task of awareness than other forms. Mindfulness in Plain English - 1 to 4
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vipasanna
Finally, these two video very simply and eloquently illustrates why I think meditation is good for lucid dreaming far better than I could ever express:
Meditation part 1
Meditation part 2
EDIT: Just realised I had this open in a tab and it's about everything I've just been trying and failing to say but from a genuine expert A Buddhist perspective on lucid dreaming
Ps. sorry for posting a wall of text and then telling you to read more walls of text.