http_wrapper.rb

%w[net/http net/https uri ostruct rubygems json].each { |gem| require gem }

module HTTP
  class UnSupportedFormat < StandardError; end
  class UnAuthenticated < StandardError; end
  MimeTypes = { :xml => "text/xml", :json => "application/json" }
  
  def self.included(klass)
    klass.extend ClassMethods
  end
  
  # Class Methods
  module ClassMethods
    %w[get post put delete].each do |verb|
       meths = %{
          def #{verb}(url, &block)
            request = new(url)
            request.instance_eval(&block)
            request.send_request("#{verb}")
            request
          end
        }
      self.class_eval meths
    end
  end
  
  attr_reader :response, :results
  
  # Instance Methods
  def initialize(url)
    @uri  = URI.parse(normalize(url))
    @url, @port = @uri.host, @uri.port
  end
  
  def proxy(address=nil, port=nil)
    @proxy_address  = address
    @proxy_port     = port
  end
  
  def basic_auth(user, pass)
    @basic_auth = { :user => user, :password => pass }
  end
  
  def query(hash={}, q=[])
    return nil if hash.empty?
    hash.each { |key, *values| q << "#{key}=#{values.join(',')}" }
    @uri.query = q.join("&")
  end
  
  def header(head={})
    head
  end
  
  def mime_type(type)
    MimeTypes.each { |key,value| @mime_type = key if type.include?(value) }
  end
  
  def send_request(resource)
    klass           = Net::HTTP.const_get resource.to_s.downcase.capitalize
    request         = klass.new(@uri.request_uri)
    request.body    = @uri.query
    
    request.initialize_http_header(header)
    request.basic_auth(@basic_auth[:user], @basic_auth[:password]) if has_auth?
    
    @response = http.request(request)
    mime_type(@response['content-type'])
    
    @results = parse(@response.body)
  end
  
  def use_ssl?
    @uri.port == 443
  end
  
  def has_query?
    !!@uri.query
  end
  
  def has_auth?
    !!@basic_auth
  end
  
  def has_proxy?
    !!@proxy_address && !!@proxy_port
  end
  
  
  private
    
    def parse(body)
      results = case @mime_type
      when :xml
        Hash.from_xml(body)
      when :json
        JSON.parse(body)
      else
        body
      end
      results
    end
    
    def http
      net = has_proxy? ? Net::HTTP.new(@uri.host, @uri.port, @proxy_address, @proxy_port) : Net::HTTP.new(@uri.host, @uri.port)
      net.use_ssl = use_ssl?
      net.verify_mode = OpenSSL::SSL::VERIFY_NONE
      net
    end
    
    def normalize(url)
      url =~ /^https?:\/\// ? url : "http#{'s' if url.include?(':443')}://#{url}"
    end
end

usage.rb

class Twitter
  include HTTP
  
  def self.search(*terms)
    get("http://search.twitter.com/search.json") do
      query(:q => terms)
    end
  end
  
  def self.for(*terms)
    get("http://search.twitter.com/search.json").query(:q => terms)
  end
  
end

puts Twitter.search("merb").results