Ok... So I looked into:
litefeeds - slick web interface, still no batch download, and their java client is kludgy.
freenews - cumbersome web interface, still no batch download, and similar java client.
ugh... i think these java clients are incredibly slow (not sure if its memory or processor).
still down to bloglines (graphics inline) and quicknews (no graphics, but batch downloads).
kjohn