No subject

which I've found to overwhelm a newbie (well, at least myself) 
with syntactical elements that  obscure the fundamentals of 
programming and software development. 
(I have a C/C++ background, and wished I had found
Python instead of BASIC first, as many of the concepts implemented
in C/C++ I struggled with have a much easier learning curve in
Python.)

Start here: http://python.org/doc/Newbies.html

When your lost go here:
http://www.python.org/psa/MailingLists.html#tutor

(Of course, be sure to check the archives & google before firing off
your questions.)

On a side note: I'm assuming your focused on learning a language, not 
coding up a GUI as VB is primed for.  When you're ready to start
experimenting with Python in a GUI, a close VB comparison is the 
PythonCard project: www.pythoncard.org

- Dean