Rails or Pylons -- Any good framework for Python?
I wrote a few websites in Pylons over the years and I like it a lot. The great things about Pylons is that it consists mostly of third party libraries. That means that you're learning many useful libraries that can be used in you other projects, for example SQLAlchemy, WebOb, FormEncode, Beaker, Mako and so on ... Especially SQLAlchemy and Beaker are extremely useful in pretty much any context.
I have no background in web applications, but have a fairly experience background in C++, and a quick learner. 
I have spent some time learning Python and reading through SQLAlchemy. I kind of like the idea of coding in pure Python OO, and then use a nice SQLAlchemy mapper to persist everything. I like this decoupled approach (using pure Python classes along a mapper function to talk to DB) better than the ActiveRecord idea of Rails. I think eventually I would have more control over connecting the DB to the app. (I need to work with a DB that is updated by a background process. Something like a web crawler that fills the DB.)
At the same time, some stuff makes me think again about Rails. Like streamlined Email and Ajax handling in Rails. 
Am I thinking the right way, that Rails is less flexible for Form Validation Manipulations, and working with DB? And is it harder in Pylons to handle Email (notifications), RSS, Ajax? 
What would you suggest? 
Thanks