Derek, what version of Kwin are you running? Perhaps you might try KDE 2.2's version of KWin which has some improvements, and quite possibly could have the bug you refer to fixed (KDE 2.2beta1 is available now, KDE 2.2 final will be out next week).
It's Kwin from 2.1.1, compiled from source. I actually set about recompiling CVS KDE2.2 last night, but it takes a loooong time, even on my dual PIII box. It hadn't finished when I went to bed so I still don't know if it will work better. The issue has been raised on the KDE development list before (by me actually, when I was trying to get Forte to run). It became an unpleasant sight, watching to see who could get the slopiest shoulders! It seems the KDE guys sloped just a bit more - Blackdown et al have fixed it in the latest JDK release. See my next post...