I need help figuring out how to remove the light blue bar below my custom header?

I think you're referring to the main navigation menu. It looks gray to me though. :)

To hide the main menu in the Manifest theme, add this to your Appearance → Custom Design → CSS editor:

#main-nav {
	display: none;
}

You might also want to hide the tagline, or site description, since you're not using it. Removing it will tighten up the spacing a bit too.

#site-description {
	display: none;
}

I followed the suggestions listed here: http://en.support.wordpress.com/custom-design/editing-css/#maintaining-your-custom-header but to no avail.

you can see what is happening at my site here: http://strategiceconomics.wordpress.com/

I'd appreciate any help or advice about how to correct this. Thanks much!

I need help figuring out how to remove the light blue bar below my custom header? It was the "About" section which I got rid of but I can't seem to remove the bar itself completely.