I am deciding which program to use and will probably download demos of most of them to see what they're like. From what I've read and heard, it appears that Premiere Pro is really for extremely fast and high-powered systems and mostly buggy...Vegas is less powerworthy, and perhaps easier to learn. I want to get some more programs listings and reviews.

This is just a can o' worms. You might as well ask "Mac or PC?" -- everyone has a different take on this question and many of them are passionate about their opinions.

Personally, I've been editing w/ Premiere for a couple of years now and have had no problems with it. Of course, being a Windows user, I always save at regular intervals, so maybe I just aren't affected by (so don't notice) the bugs...

Let's rephrase the question, possibly -- what kind of video work do you want to do? What other graphics apps, if any, do you use? Do you prefer that app's workflow and layout? (for example, I was already a Photoshop user before I started using Premiere, and I think that made a difference) Knowing what you plan to use it for might help us steer you in the right direction -- otherwise you might as well just Google "NLE" or something. Or just use the free Windows Movie Maker :)

Since this is in the PC section I'm assuming PC as well. The
most used application is probably a flavor of Adobe Premiere.
I'd say the two runner ups are Sony Vegas (was from Sonic
Foundry and is gaining on the market fast!) and Avid (DV
Xpress probably). All of these have demo's available (Avid
has a free version as well with limited functionality).

There are a lot of other packages like Pinnacle Studio, Pinnacle
Liquid (going from pro-sumer to high-level), Canopus Let's
Edit (new package I believe), Canopus EDIUS and I'm probably
forgetting a whole lot here.

Some simple NLE's also exist. From Microsoft (free with Windows?)
Movie Maker to Sony Screenblast Movie Studio.

Others will surely add to the list where I missed some...

Vegas is NOT less "Powerworthy". It probably WILL run better on a system with "less power". And, yes, I believe Vegas is easy to learn.

This is a really difficult question for anyone but you to answer. Try the demos and see which one works best with YOUR workflow. Personally, I chose Vegas.