Hey Popdog,
For a beginner who wants to get right into playing songs and who obviously has access to the internet I recommend
www.guitarnoise.com and
www.wholenote.com
Good lessons and step by step songs to learn and, on wholenote, midi so you can hear what it should sound like.
For technique and physical aspects of playing take a look at
www.guitarprinciples.com
Also, I always say, hit the library and read as many instruction books as they have before you worry about buying anything.
David Mead's book: the 10-minute guitar workout is worth a look from the perspective of technique building exercizes and
Planetalk by our friendly administrator here is the most UNDERSTANDABLE book on the very basics of music theory I've ever seen. (and I've read a lot of them w/o making much sense of it.)
so... that's more than enough to get you started
Good luck!
Ruben