They are simply comparing Java servlets to Perl CGI, which is meaningless. They are welcome to compare Java CGI to Perl CGI - Java CGI is slow as molasses! They are also welcome to compare Java servlets to mod_perl, FastCGI, PerlEx, or PersistentPerl, all of which have an equivalent approach that does not spawn processes for each request and runs compiled Perl code cached in memory. The performance is roughly equivalent between Java servlets and mod_perl, although mod_perl was a little faster the last time I tested.

Ask them this: if Java is so perfect, why don't the largest sites use it? Why don't Yahoo and Amazon run Java? Both of them do use Perl and C, but not Java.

You might also mention that TicketMaster/CitySearch runs on mod_perl.