Twitter is a lot like blogging, but instead of posting things on a sort of bulletin board that only gets checked when people come down to the lobby, it’s almost like a real chat room, with one bit and important difference: You have total control over your Twitter experience.

If someone is being a “twit” you unfollow them. If someone is interesting to you, the friends on their list might be too, so you start adding them. Eventually you are in your own little Twitter world where all you see are comments that intrigue you, from people you respect.

Blogger has back-ported this Twitter-like Web 2.0 character into their environment with the new “followers” widget, which allows a blog ring tailored to your interests to emerge and organize itself.

exhelodrvr said, “Well, this is Obama’s chance to demonstrate his tough policy towards Pakistan.”

Wow, even the right wingers want Bush to take an early out. It’s not January 20 yet.

Cannoneer #4 said, “Joe Biden was right, Barack Obama will face an international test in the first six months. South Asia looks to be that test.”

The six months starts on January 20. How’s your boy doing with this international test, right now? Looks like he’s taking a pass. Even the righties want Obama to move against Pakistan, right now.

Wretchard said, “The twin supports of the the unrest in Afghanistan are Pakistan and the Middle East.”

It’s actually a tripod. You need at least three legs to stand something up. The third support of the unrest in Afghanistan and Pakistan is the CIA Predator hellfire missile airstrikes which kill civilians. The dream of winning push-button wars from the air remains now and forever science fiction.

Cannoneer #4 said, “One of the reasons most of us put up with governments and their incompetence, corruption and insatiable demand for more of our money is because they are supposed to protect us.”

The way they do that is through “security theater”. They set condition orange, yello, red, purple, mauve, oh look at all the pretty colors! They strip search grandma and make you take off your shoes and keep your lipstick in a ziplock bag and it sure looks like they’re keeping us safe. But the whole scam comes crashing down to earth when the baddies take some of those hundreds of billions of dollars in oil money we sent to Saudi Arabia and bribe an airport cargo handler or a maintenance guy to look the other way just this one time.