Ok, obviously tossed around a bit and I am still torn. I feel for a newbie that IS or VR are important. So I have come down to Nikon D80 body with Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED-IF AF-S VR DX Zoom-Nikkor Lens or The Can EOS 40d with the kit 28 -135mm lens with IS.
Its killing me. Any more specific thoughts would really help before I try to buy this weekend.
Seems dumb but I really like the dust feature on the Canon. I used to take pictures on a camera my grandfather left me and it had a dust issue.

Thanks gang,
David Ortiz