Here's my code review

Please keep in mind:
-  I am NOT a huge python programmer.  Lots of my stylistic edits might not be pythonic.
-  I did not test on my own machine... I don't have your text file dependency.

The basic ideas were to make the code easier on the eyes (white space and making variable names english words), DRYer, and more self-documenting (replace comments with more meaningful method and variable names).  

Lastly, you do NOT need to like anything I did.  Code reviews can be tough to accept, and that's okay.  I don't expect you to just take in any code review, especially from me.  Proper programming involves compromise and is very social:  http://www.dillonforrest.com/post/42983780392/proper-programming-is-surprisingly-social

For the future, I'd suggest:
-  finding a real python programmer to review your code :)
-  adding unit tests -- testing is a very big part of disciplined programming