Index: wp-includes/query.php
===================================================================
--- wp-includes/query.php	(revision 12404)
+++ wp-includes/query.php	(working copy)
@@ -1784,14 +1784,8 @@
 		}
 
 		if ( !empty($q['category__not_in']) ) {
-			if ( $wpdb->has_cap( 'subqueries' ) ) {
-				$cat_string = "'" . implode("', '", $q['category__not_in']) . "'";
-				$whichcat .= " AND $wpdb->posts.ID NOT IN ( SELECT tr.object_id FROM $wpdb->term_relationships AS tr INNER JOIN $wpdb->term_taxonomy AS tt ON tr.term_taxonomy_id = tt.term_taxonomy_id WHERE tt.taxonomy = 'category' AND tt.term_id IN ($cat_string) )";
-			} else {
-				$ids = get_objects_in_term($q['category__not_in'], 'category');
-				if ( !is_wp_error($ids) && is_array($ids) && count($ids) > 0 )
-					$whichcat .= " AND $wpdb->posts.ID NOT IN ('" . implode("', '", $ids) . "')";
-			}
+			$cat_string = "'" . implode("', '", $q['category__not_in']) . "'";
+			$whichcat .= " AND $wpdb->posts.ID NOT IN ( SELECT tr.object_id FROM $wpdb->term_relationships AS tr INNER JOIN $wpdb->term_taxonomy AS tt ON tr.term_taxonomy_id = tt.term_taxonomy_id WHERE tt.taxonomy = 'category' AND tt.term_id IN ($cat_string) )";
 		}
 
 		// Category stuff for nice URLs
@@ -1874,14 +1868,8 @@
 		}
 
 		if ( !empty($q['tag__not_in']) ) {
-			if ( $wpdb->has_cap( 'subqueries' ) ) {
-				$tag_string = "'" . implode("', '", $q['tag__not_in']) . "'";
-				$whichcat .= " AND $wpdb->posts.ID NOT IN ( SELECT tr.object_id FROM $wpdb->term_relationships AS tr INNER JOIN $wpdb->term_taxonomy AS tt ON tr.term_taxonomy_id = tt.term_taxonomy_id WHERE tt.taxonomy = 'post_tag' AND tt.term_id IN ($tag_string) )";
-			} else {
-				$ids = get_objects_in_term($q['tag__not_in'], 'post_tag');
-				if ( !is_wp_error($ids) && is_array($ids) && count($ids) > 0 )
-					$whichcat .= " AND $wpdb->posts.ID NOT IN ('" . implode("', '", $ids) . "')";
-			}
+			$tag_string = "'" . implode("', '", $q['tag__not_in']) . "'";
+			$whichcat .= " AND $wpdb->posts.ID NOT IN ( SELECT tr.object_id FROM $wpdb->term_relationships AS tr INNER JOIN $wpdb->term_taxonomy AS tt ON tr.term_taxonomy_id = tt.term_taxonomy_id WHERE tt.taxonomy = 'post_tag' AND tt.term_id IN ($tag_string) )";
 		}
 
 		// Tag and slug intersections.
Index: wp-includes/wp-db.php
===================================================================
--- wp-includes/wp-db.php	(revision 12404)
+++ wp-includes/wp-db.php	(working copy)
@@ -385,17 +385,15 @@
 
 		$this->ready = true;
 
-		if ( $this->has_cap( 'collation' ) ) {
-			if ( !empty($this->charset) ) {
-				if ( function_exists('mysql_set_charset') ) {
-					mysql_set_charset($this->charset, $this->dbh);
-					$this->real_escape = true;
-				} else {
-					$collation_query = "SET NAMES '{$this->charset}'";
-					if ( !empty($this->collate) )
-						$collation_query .= " COLLATE '{$this->collate}'";
-					$this->query($collation_query);
-				}
+		if ( !empty($this->charset) ) {
+			if ( function_exists('mysql_set_charset') ) {
+				mysql_set_charset($this->charset, $this->dbh);
+				$this->real_escape = true;
+			} else {
+				$collation_query = "SET NAMES '{$this->charset}'";
+				if ( !empty($this->collate) )
+					$collation_query .= " COLLATE '{$this->collate}'";
+				$this->query($collation_query);
 			}
 		}
 
Index: wp-admin/includes/schema.php
===================================================================
--- wp-admin/includes/schema.php	(revision 12404)
+++ wp-admin/includes/schema.php	(working copy)
@@ -19,12 +19,10 @@
 // Declare these as global in case schema.php is included from a function.
 global $wpdb, $wp_queries;
 
-if ( $wpdb->has_cap( 'collation' ) ) {
-	if ( ! empty($wpdb->charset) )
-		$charset_collate = "DEFAULT CHARACTER SET $wpdb->charset";
-	if ( ! empty($wpdb->collate) )
-		$charset_collate .= " COLLATE $wpdb->collate";
-}
+if ( ! empty($wpdb->charset) )
+	$charset_collate = "DEFAULT CHARACTER SET $wpdb->charset";
+if ( ! empty($wpdb->collate) )
+	$charset_collate .= " COLLATE $wpdb->collate";
 
 /** Create WordPress database tables SQL */
 $wp_queries = "CREATE TABLE $wpdb->terms (