Cant Seem to Remove Columns from a Content Type in a Solution

Some behaviours in SharePoint 2010 solutions have become frustrating compared with SharePoint 2007 solutions. One that's particularly troublesome is attempting to modify site columns in a custom content type that inherits from a non-built in content type.

When inheriting from a publishing article page content type using a solution,  just can't seem to remove a couple of site column. Neither of the following approaches seems to work. If I come up with a solution, I'll add it hear.

            <FieldRef ID="{d3429cc9-adc4-439b-84a8-5679070f84cb}" Name="ArticleByLine" Hidden="TRUE" />

            <RemoveFieldRef ID="{d3429cc9-adc4-439b-84a8-5679070f84cb}" Name="ArticleByLine" />