Your screenshot is for the home page before moving the mouse, of course you see nearly nothing, so it is consistent. Anyway, here is a commented screenshot of the search results page (not all the comments fit in, especially the font size on the left for the tools, so I did not include them). This is especially this one annoying me because I access google through the search box of my browser.

http://xhtml.net/documents/images/new-google-page.png

I don't like inconsistencies either, but I don't mind them as long as they're consistent within a conceptual section.

The arrows on the sidebar, for example, cause a different behavior when clicked than the arrows up top. The pipes between the links on the right are between links relating to your personal settings as opposed to the links on the left, which are filters for the search results (with the exception of Mail, which is inconsistently placed).

Overall I like the new look but I can see how it may not be the most cohesive design.

That's a Google SERP not the homepage.

Yes the visual design sucks. I'm not there for the visual design and it doesn't suck enough to interrupt the utility for me.