I think Python is the much better choice to start out, but Java is pretty great too. It's hard to find languages that are actually bad choices... maybe COBOL.
I think Python would be better to start with. It is interpreted so you will get sane error messages. The community is omnipresent. If you'd like instant answers, you could just pop in to #python on irc.freenode.net.
Most of the times all your questions will be answered by a simple google search, as there are mountains of good questions and answers on stackoverflow.
IMHO for you, getting back into programming will be as simple as opening the interpreter and starting to type.
I don't think programming has changed, the basic mentality is still the same. And nothing beats good old experience.
The new niche "trends" such as asyncronous programming, actor-based programming etc. could be easily learned by lingering on HN for a while :).
I think Python is the much better choice to start out, but Java is pretty great too. It's hard to find languages that are actually bad choices... maybe COBOL.