So after convincing myself it was the strut bearings, I ordered them ($17 each, ouch) and finally braved the ridiculously hot garage to put them in. Nothing every goes smoothly for me but this time it was my fault. I must have overtightened the top strut nut on the passenger side because I broke the rubber insert of the upper strut mount trying to remove it so now the piston spins freely. I have a small 100lb-ft impact and it doesn't budge it. I tried vice gripping the piston itself, but that thing is smooth as glass and apparently pretty hard metal since the vice grips barely left a mark. So that guy isn't coming apart tonight.
The driver's side came off in minutes of not seconds, and that's the side I believe the noise comes from. The upper strut mount has a bunch of yellow sand like substance in it, which is really weird, but the plastic strut bearing is still in good shape and spins relatively freely. So I highly doubt it was my noise after all.
I am tempted to replace both of the upper strut mounts to maybe reduce some road noise even if unrelated to my daily pop. OEM are $50 each, but rock auto has them as low as $25. I wish someone made a lighter version since these things are probably 5lbs a piece unnecessarily. Tomorrow, I'll call some friends and see if anyone has a stronger impact or a brighter idea for removing that nut.
The control arm ball joints seem ok to me. They aren't as stiff as they once were, but there doesn't appear to be any play, but of course, my arms can't match the force of a 2800lb car either. Tough to say. I could take the sway bar off while the car is up in the air and the endlinks are already off. I've done it in the past trying to isolate noises and it does make the car suck to drive, but at least it would rule out one more thing.
I am kind of leaning towards CV. My plan was to replace the axles this winter along with the clutch. My clutch is fine, but I've had a MS flywheel sitting in my closet for over a year now, and figure I might as well put a new one in when I put in the flywheel. I've never done a clutch and it's something I've always wanted to do.
Anyway we nailed the blighter,..the lower control arm was shifting under brakes back and forth around 1/8" where it was welded to the lower-inner bush-housing. The design was faulty, and Chrysler welded in gussets in later models. The lower arm is made up of 2 pieces of steel rivetted together. At the inner-lower bush, the top of the bush was encircled by the 2 pieces but was not a good press fit. So the reversal of driving force caused the 2 pieces to sort of flex, then jump making the noise. 
