python and bit shifts and byte order, oh my!

[Reid Nichol]

I played with bit shifts on my PC and tried the same thing on a Mac OS X 
machine.  They produced the same results, so I would assume that the way 
the bits and how they are interpreted are as in this link:

http://www.khakipants.org/archives/2003/03/bitlevel_input_and_output.html

At least in memory while the interpreter is running.

It's my first attempt down there and I need to know.  So, is this how 
Python works at the bit level?

I know that storing the number on disk means byte-order, etc.  But, that 
doesn't seem to be in play here.

Do I have the right thinking here?  Or am I wrong?  If so, how doesn't 
it actually work?