[wbarber]

Googled for confirmation that the Google CSE index is different from "the real Google Index" and haven't been able to confirm that.

I've tinkered with Google CSE a lot and it does have its uses. The knowledge map options are fun to tinker with even if a bit of a black box.

As for the xml - when you download the xml that's intended to be your starting point for an engine, it doesn't include parts of the definition of the CSE like sites you've listed to exclude. So that functionality seems to be a little broken, but I've confirmed you can add and remove elements of the knowledge graph at least via the xml file.