it's a bit confusing ... a good design will always put focus on "something" ... be it an image, a column, a row, a title, etc

(you want to put focus on your forum titles)

Quick Changes To Make It Look Better:
I suggest a lighter shade for tborder (background/border - #634A00 ).
Replace link color ... use #ffcc00; leave the hover as is
The alt1 and alt1Active links should be changed to
color:#ffffff;
text-decoration: underline;

change vbmenu_control a:link color to #ffcc00

I also recommend a increasing alpha (about 80%) on your OFF statusicon. In other words, the OFF icon would not stand out.