diff --git a/bin/fail2ban-client b/bin/fail2ban-client
index 0c6999c1..866a5287 100755
--- a/bin/fail2ban-client
+++ b/bin/fail2ban-client
@@ -419,12 +419,11 @@ class Fail2banClient:
 			ret = False
 		return ret
 
-	#@staticmethod
+	@staticmethod
 	def dumpConfig(cmd):
 		for c in cmd:
 			print c
 		return True
-	dumpConfig = staticmethod(dumpConfig)
 
 
 class ServerExecutionException(Exception):
diff --git a/fail2ban/client/csocket.py b/fail2ban/client/csocket.py
index 1d522f6c..921b0de5 100644
--- a/fail2ban/client/csocket.py
+++ b/fail2ban/client/csocket.py
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ class CSocket:
 		self.__csock.close()
 		return ret
 	
-	#@staticmethod
+	@staticmethod
 	def receive(sock):
 		msg = EMPTY_BYTES
 		while msg.rfind(CSocket.END_STRING) == -1:
@@ -66,4 +66,3 @@ class CSocket:
 				raise RuntimeError, "socket connection broken"
 			msg = msg + chunk
 		return loads(msg)
-	receive = staticmethod(receive)
diff --git a/fail2ban/client/jailreader.py b/fail2ban/client/jailreader.py
index ffdc5e26..84cc5e2a 100644
--- a/fail2ban/client/jailreader.py
+++ b/fail2ban/client/jailreader.py
@@ -220,7 +220,7 @@ class JailReader(ConfigReader):
 		stream.insert(0, ["add", self.__name, backend])
 		return stream
 	
-	#@staticmethod
+	@staticmethod
 	def extractOptions(option):
 		match = JailReader.optionCRE.match(option)
 		if not match:
@@ -235,4 +235,3 @@ class JailReader(ConfigReader):
 					val for val in optmatch.group(2,3,4) if val is not None][0]
 				option_opts[opt.strip()] = value.strip()
 		return option_name, option_opts
-	extractOptions = staticmethod(extractOptions)
diff --git a/fail2ban/server/asyncserver.py b/fail2ban/server/asyncserver.py
index 14673a99..a54d41a1 100644
--- a/fail2ban/server/asyncserver.py
+++ b/fail2ban/server/asyncserver.py
@@ -149,12 +149,8 @@ class AsyncServer(asyncore.dispatcher):
 		self.__init = True
 		# TODO Add try..catch
 		# There's a bug report for Python 2.6/3.0 that use_poll=True yields some 2.5 incompatibilities:
-		if sys.version_info >= (2, 6): # if python 2.6 or greater...
-			logSys.debug("Detected Python 2.6 or greater. asyncore.loop() not using poll")
-			asyncore.loop(use_poll = False) # fixes the "Unexpected communication problem" issue on Python 2.6 and 3.0
-		else: # pragma: no cover
-			logSys.debug("NOT Python 2.6/3.* - asyncore.loop() using poll")
-			asyncore.loop(use_poll = True)
+		logSys.debug("Detected Python 2.6 or greater. asyncore.loop() not using poll")
+		asyncore.loop(use_poll=False) # fixes the "Unexpected communication problem" issue on Python 2.6 and 3.0
 	
 	##
 	# Stops the communication server.
@@ -175,12 +171,11 @@ class AsyncServer(asyncore.dispatcher):
 
 	# @param sock: socket file.
 	
-	#@staticmethod
+	@staticmethod
 	def __markCloseOnExec(sock):
 		fd = sock.fileno()
 		flags = fcntl.fcntl(fd, fcntl.F_GETFD)
 		fcntl.fcntl(fd, fcntl.F_SETFD, flags|fcntl.FD_CLOEXEC)
-	__markCloseOnExec = staticmethod(__markCloseOnExec)
 
 ##
 # AsyncServerException is used to wrap communication exceptions.
diff --git a/fail2ban/server/banmanager.py b/fail2ban/server/banmanager.py
index b24fa9e5..c21cad45 100644
--- a/fail2ban/server/banmanager.py
+++ b/fail2ban/server/banmanager.py
@@ -126,7 +126,7 @@ class BanManager:
 	# @param ticket the FailTicket
 	# @return a BanTicket
 	
-	#@staticmethod
+	@staticmethod
 	def createBanTicket(ticket):
 		ip = ticket.getIP()
 		#lastTime = ticket.getTime()
@@ -134,7 +134,6 @@ class BanManager:
 		banTicket = BanTicket(ip, lastTime, ticket.getMatches())
 		banTicket.setAttempt(ticket.getAttempt())
 		return banTicket
-	createBanTicket = staticmethod(createBanTicket)
 	
 	##
 	# Add a ban ticket.
diff --git a/fail2ban/server/filter.py b/fail2ban/server/filter.py
index d1c9d2ad..c886bf35 100644
--- a/fail2ban/server/filter.py
+++ b/fail2ban/server/filter.py
@@ -838,7 +838,7 @@ class DNSUtils:
 
 	IP_CRE = re.compile("^(?:\d{1,3}\.){3}\d{1,3}$")
 
-	#@staticmethod
+	@staticmethod
 	def dnsToIp(dns):
 		""" Convert a DNS into an IP address using the Python socket module.
 			Thanks to Kevin Drapel.
@@ -853,9 +853,8 @@ class DNSUtils:
 			logSys.warning("Socket error raised trying to resolve hostname %s: %s"
 						% (dns, e))
 			return list()
-	dnsToIp = staticmethod(dnsToIp)
 
-	#@staticmethod
+	@staticmethod
 	def searchIP(text):
 		""" Search if an IP address if directly available and return
 			it.
@@ -865,9 +864,8 @@ class DNSUtils:
 			return match
 		else:
 			return None
-	searchIP = staticmethod(searchIP)
 
-	#@staticmethod
+	@staticmethod
 	def isValidIP(string):
 		""" Return true if str is a valid IP
 		"""
@@ -877,9 +875,8 @@ class DNSUtils:
 			return True
 		except socket.error:
 			return False
-	isValidIP = staticmethod(isValidIP)
 
-	#@staticmethod
+	@staticmethod
 	def textToIp(text, useDns):
 		""" Return the IP of DNS found in a given text.
 		"""
@@ -901,9 +898,8 @@ class DNSUtils:
 					text, ipList)
 
 		return ipList
-	textToIp = staticmethod(textToIp)
 
-	#@staticmethod
+	@staticmethod
 	def cidr(i, n):
 		""" Convert an IP address string with a CIDR mask into a 32-bit
 			integer.
@@ -911,18 +907,15 @@ class DNSUtils:
 		# 32-bit IPv4 address mask
 		MASK = 0xFFFFFFFFL
 		return ~(MASK >> n) & MASK & DNSUtils.addr2bin(i)
-	cidr = staticmethod(cidr)
 
-	#@staticmethod
+	@staticmethod
 	def addr2bin(string):
 		""" Convert a string IPv4 address into an unsigned integer.
 		"""
 		return struct.unpack("!L", socket.inet_aton(string))[0]
-	addr2bin = staticmethod(addr2bin)
 
-	#@staticmethod
+	@staticmethod
 	def bin2addr(addr):
 		""" Convert a numeric IPv4 address into string n.n.n.n form.
 		"""
 		return socket.inet_ntoa(struct.pack("!L", addr))
-	bin2addr = staticmethod(bin2addr)
diff --git a/fail2ban/server/mytime.py b/fail2ban/server/mytime.py
index 96c7f8ab..f284379e 100644
--- a/fail2ban/server/mytime.py
+++ b/fail2ban/server/mytime.py
@@ -26,65 +26,71 @@ import time, datetime
 ##
 # MyTime class.
 #
-# This class is a wrapper around time.time()  and time.gmtime(). When
-# performing unit test, it is very useful to get a fixed value from these
-# functions.
-# Thus, time.time() and time.gmtime() should never be called directly.
-# This wrapper should be called instead. The API are equivalent.
 
 class MyTime:
-	
+	"""A wrapper around time module primarily for testing purposes
+
+	This class is a wrapper around time.time()  and time.gmtime(). When
+	performing unit test, it is very useful to get a fixed value from
+	these functions.  Thus, time.time() and time.gmtime() should never
+	be called directly.  This wrapper should be called instead. The API
+	are equivalent.
+	"""
+
 	myTime = None
-	
-	##
-	# Sets the current time.
-	#
-	# Use None in order to always get the real current time.
-	#
-	# @param t the time to set or None
-	
-	#@staticmethod
+
+	@staticmethod
 	def setTime(t):
+		"""Set current time.
+
+		Use None in order to always get the real current time.
+
+		@param t the time to set or None
+		"""
+
 		MyTime.myTime = t
-	setTime = staticmethod(setTime)
-	
-	##
-	# Equivalent to time.time()
-	#
-	# @return time.time() if setTime was called with None
-	
-	#@staticmethod
+
+	@staticmethod
 	def time():
+		"""Decorate time.time() for the purpose of testing mocking
+
+		@return time.time() if setTime was called with None
+		"""
+
 		if MyTime.myTime is None:
 			return time.time()
 		else:
 			return MyTime.myTime
-	time = staticmethod(time)
-	
-	##
-	# Equivalent to time.gmtime()
-	#
-	# @return time.gmtime() if setTime was called with None
-	
-	#@staticmethod
+
+	@staticmethod
 	def gmtime():
+		"""Decorate time.gmtime() for the purpose of testing mocking
+
+		@return time.gmtime() if setTime was called with None
+		"""
 		if MyTime.myTime is None:
 			return time.gmtime()
 		else:
 			return time.gmtime(MyTime.myTime)
-	gmtime = staticmethod(gmtime)
 
-	#@staticmethod
+	@staticmethod
 	def now():
+		"""Decorate datetime.now() for the purpose of testing mocking
+
+		@return datetime.now() if setTime was called with None
+		"""
 		if MyTime.myTime is None:
 			return datetime.datetime.now()
 		else:
 			return datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(MyTime.myTime)
-	now = staticmethod(now)
 
+	@staticmethod
 	def localtime(x=None):
+		"""Decorate time.localtime() for the purpose of testing mocking
+
+		@return time.localtime() if setTime was called with None
+		"""
 		if MyTime.myTime is None or x is not None:
 			return time.localtime(x)
 		else:
 			return time.localtime(MyTime.myTime)
-	localtime = staticmethod(localtime)
diff --git a/fail2ban/tests/samplestestcase.py b/fail2ban/tests/samplestestcase.py
index e0831184..2c18a504 100644
--- a/fail2ban/tests/samplestestcase.py
+++ b/fail2ban/tests/samplestestcase.py
@@ -24,11 +24,7 @@ __license__ = "GPL"
 
 import unittest, sys, os, fileinput, re, time, datetime, inspect
 
-if sys.version_info >= (2, 6):
-	import json
-else:
-	import simplejson as json
-	next = lambda x: x.next()
+import json
 
 from ..server.filter import Filter
 from ..client.filterreader import FilterReader