Tinkering I've done to check email and import the result in to a Django application.

import_email.py

#! /usr/bin/env python

"""
Import email for a given frequency. For example, to activate importers set 
up for every 15 minutes, run:

./import_email.py 15

Set this up in your crontab for 5, 10, 15, 30, 45, and 60 as needed.

*/5 * * * * import_email.py 5 > /dev/null 2>&1
*/10 * * * * import_email.py 10 > /dev/null 2>&1
*/15 * * * * import_email.py 15 > /dev/null 2>&1
*/30 * * * * import_email.py 30 > /dev/null 2>&1
*/45 * * * * import_email.py 45 > /dev/null 2>&1
*/60 * * * * import_email.py 60 > /dev/null 2>&1
"""

# Imports #
import getopt
import os
import re
import sys

# Settings #
sys.path = ['../../'] + sys.path
os.environ['DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE'] = "nsite.settings"

# Imports #

from django.contrib.auth.models import User
from tickets.models import *

# Procedure #

# Need to do this in order to get the frequency pass on the command line.
try:
    opts,args = getopt.getopt(sys.argv[1:],'h')
except getopt.GetoptError, error:
    print str(error)
    sys.exit(2)

# Make sure the frequency arguments has actually been given.
try:
    minutes = args[0]
except IndexError, error:
    print "Frequency argument is required. Example: "
    print "./import_email.py 15"
    sys.exit(2)

# "Print" documentation is used from here.
print "Importing python's poplib and email modules."
import poplib
from email import parser

print "Fetching those settings configured for %s minute import." %minutes
importers = Mail_Import.objects.filter(frequency__exact=minutes)

for Config in importers:
    print "Initializing the connection for %s" %Config.site
    Conn = poplib.POP3(Config.host)
    Conn.user(Config.user)
    Conn.pass_(Config.password)

    print "Downloading messages."
    messages = [Conn.retr(i) for i in range(1, len(Conn.list()[1]) + 1)]
    messages = ["\n".join(m[1]) for m in messages]
    messages = [parser.Parser().parsestr(m) for m in messages]

    message_id = 1
    for message in messages:

        print "Extracting the From header to find the email address."
        try:
            email = re.findall('[a-zA-Z0-9+_\-\.]+@[0-9a-zA-Z][.-0-9a-zA-Z]*.[a-zA-Z]+',message['from'])[0]
        except Exception, error:
            print "Couldn't find an email address within the From header. I can't go on."
            continue

        print "Make sure the message is from an approved user."
        U = User.objects.get(email__exact=email)
        if not U:
            print "%s is an unrecognized user." %message['from']
            continue
    
        print "Checking to see if a ticket ID has been given in the subject line."
        try:
            match = re.findall('ticket-[0-9]*',message['subject'])[0]
            ticket_id = match.split('-')[1]
            print "Found ticket ID %s." %ticket_id
            print "Make sure this is a valid ticket ID."
            T = Ticket.objects.get(id=ticket_id)
            print "Create a note for the ticket."
            N = Note()
            N.ticket = T
            N.added_by = U
            N.updated_by = U
            print "Parsing for message body and attachments."
            N.comment = ''
            attachments = list()
            if message.is_multipart():
                for part in message.get_payload():
                    if 'text' == part.get_content_maintype():
                        N.comment += part.get_payload()
                    else:
                        A = Attachment()
                        A.file = part.get_filename()
                        A.title = part.get_filename()
                        A.added_by = U
                        A.updated_by = U
                        A.ticket = T
                        attachments.append(A)
                        path = '../data/files/attachments/%s' %part.get_filename()
                        print "Saving attachment to %s" %path
                        f = open(path,'w')
                        f.write(part.get_payload(decode=True))
                        f.close()
                        print "Saving the attachment info to the database."
                        A.save()
            else:
                N.comment = message.get_payload()

            print "Save the note."
            N.save()

        except Exception, error:
            print "No ticket ID found."
            print "Creating a new ticket."
            T = Ticket()
            T.created_from = 'email'
            T.added_by = U
            T.updated_by = U
            T.subject = message['subject']

            T.site = Config.site
            if Config.assign_to: T.assigned_to = Config.assign_to
            if Config.set_priority_to: T.priority = Config.set_priority_to
            if Config.set_ticket_type_to: T.type = Config.set_ticket_type_to

            print "Parsing for message body and attachments."
            T.description = ''
            attachments = list()
            if message.is_multipart():
                for part in message.get_payload():
                    if 'text' == part.get_content_maintype():
                        T.description += part.get_payload()
                    else:
                        A = Attachment()
                        A.file = part.get_filename()
                        A.title = part.get_filename()
                        A.added_by = U
                        A.updated_by = U
                        attachments.append(A)
                        path = '../data/files/attachments/%s' %part.get_filename()
                        print "Saving attachment to %s" %path
                        f = open(path,'w')
                        f.write(part.get_payload(decode=True))
                        f.close()
            else:
                T.description = message.get_payload()

            print "Save the ticket, then save any attachments."
            T.save()
            for A in attachments:
                A.ticket = T
                A.save()

        print "Deleting the original message."
        Conn.dele(message_id)
        message_id += 1

    Conn.quit()