Net::Http *does* validate certificates by default

gistfile1.rb

require 'net/http'
require 'openssl'

#VeriSign root
root = OpenSSL::X509::Certificate.new <<-EOF
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----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-----END CERTIFICATE-----
EOF

url = URI.parse('https://www.google.com/')
req = Net::HTTP::Get.new(url.path)
socket = Net::HTTP.new(url.host, 443)
socket.use_ssl = true
#store = OpenSSL::X509::Store.new
#store.add_cert(root)
#socket.cert_store = store
socket.start do |http|
  response = http.request(req)
  puts response
end

#--> SSL_connect returned=1 errno=0 state=SSLv3 read server certificate B: certificate verify failed (OpenSSL::SSL::SSLError)
# if the comments are removed, then it will work