Update 1 - I was able to contact the OP of the thread listed above - he mentioned to me that he changed a 10A fuse labeled DIS - and that fixed his problem.

So - I checked all of my under-hood fuses. There was only 1 blown - and it was labeled: EMS1 (15A).

I replaced the fuse - and lo-and-behold - the car fired up. After about 30 seconds the CEL light came on (I don't have a reader - so have not ran the codes yet - will do ASAP)
It ran for about a minute - idle then jumped - and it started running VERY rough. I got out to check under the hood (with it still running) - and noticed about every 6-8 seconds it was backfiring through the airbox.

I got back in the seat - gave it a little "goose" to the throttle to see if it would even out - and it died.
And, of course, the EMS1 fuse was blown again.

Upon another search - I found a poster who mentions that the EMS1 fuse runs:

i looked at schematic for the ems1 fuse it feeds the anti theft ecm,vehicle speed sensor,high low light relay,abs module,ac relay. It sounds like you have a short or even a bad ground would cause the amps to go up and blow the fuse. Myself i would look for any pinched wires from the engine installation. and check your grounds that fuse feeds alot of circuts. Have your mechanic look up wire schematic
Now, the engine swap pinched wires doesn't apply here - however - with this vehicle being an '08 - can anyone verify EXACTLY what all is controlled by this fuse? (Schematic scan that might be able to be emailed to me off-list?)

Thanks,
Rex S.