This might sound crazy, but have you tried reinstalling those broken packages? Maybe if you gave them everything that they're looking to delete then they might be removeable.
If any of the dpkg developers are reading this: "Errors were encountered while processing <package>" and "sub-process returned error code 1" are really frustrating when you don't know what those errors (or sub-processes) are. Very windows-esque. Oh, lookie here: 17:35 ~ $ dpkg -Dh dpkg debugging option, --debug=<octal> or -D<octal>: See if you can find out what's failing and see if that helps you. Rob -- Insanity is the final defense ... It's hard to get a refund when the salesman is sniffing your crotch and baying at the moon.
