debian config not working

[Randall Smith]

My vim configuration is not working.  Here is my ~/.vimrc file.

set sw=4
set ts=4
set nobackup
set nowritebackup
syntax on
colorscheme murphy
au FileType python source ~/.vim/syntax/python.vim

colorscheme works, but some other things don't

sw=4 does not work, neither does shiftwidth=4
ts=4 does not work, neither does tabstop=4

When I crank up vim and type :set tabstop, it says it is set to 8.  I 
get no errors when starting up vim.  What's going on.  I'm about to pull 
my hair out.  I can manually set it within vim by :set tabstop=4. 
GRRRRRRRRRRR!  Anybody know when its not taking my settings from .vimrc? 
  Also gvim is not taking my python.vim file.

Randall