For anyone you needs to do some direct XML processing (i.e., RSS feeds) take a look at the following past blog entry and other resources:
Blog post about Google Calendar feed
Slides with XML processing code
... or just use this RSS Feed Web service 
(Just plug-in the RSS URL, it returns an RssFeed object with its "news" items. The application key is "rss".)
MH
Technorati : BUS ADM 740, RSS, XML