Bill Fancher has a wonderful thingy for MacOSX: an OSA component that allows you to use Python as the scripting language in stead of AppleScript. It is available via http://home.pacbell.net/fancher/OSA_Python/OSA_Python_Notes_1_0a5.html, but currently only in binary form (because he isn't satisfied with it yet).

At some point it should be made easy for Mac{ho}Python users to download and install this and/or it should be incorporated in the standard distribution.