It's simple to remove if you know what you are doing (as opposed to the misinformation above). You can either edit home.mode9 _manila file and set the things you don't want to 'visible=false' or just delete the relevant sections using mode9editor. If you just want them transparent, use cfcgui and replace the things you don't want to see with transparent png's. Both of these methods would require you to learn how to use a couple of tools to edit _manila files.
The simplest method would be to install CookieHomeTab 2.0. You can then edit the homescreen anyway you want very easily. You could get it to be just like stock minus the things you don't want and the right soft key menu on the homescreen.
[Manila][12-Nov-2010] Co0kie's Home Tab v2.0.0 - Final Released - xda-developers