Get URL (URI) Process

I’m looking for Class or Method that will pass back a document when
given a
URL.
I looked into the URI:: Class, but couldn’t find any examples of it’s
use.

For example, if I had the URL: http://www.asdf.com/asdf.do?sdf=asdf
… sent the request via GET or POST, and it gave me back an XML
document.

Something like the following would be great:
@doc = SOMECLASS::get(URL, POST)

Any references would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks !