OK, so I've taken your advice guys and gotten rid of these hidden elements and is looking better. I positioned each element as close as possible to the final location.
I moved the languages widget right next to the code that generates the manufacturers drop down and just above the BR/ so it just nested in beautifully.
I moved the code for the currency selector into the tpl_drop_menu.php positioned it within that file so similarly, it's nested in neatly.
Now, both the languages widget and the currency selector are positioned perfectly in all browsers.
Unfortunately though, I still can't figure out what's generating the weird white line under the menu.
Similarly, with the overflowed manufacturers side box, I can't seem to determine where the weird alignment is coming from in IE7.



