Gentoo Question

[Matthew Carpenter]

I am having quite a difficult time with file-not-found type errors when 
doing emerges.
Here is an example:

lyntoo root # emerge  world
Calculating world dependencies ...done!
 >>> emerge (1 of 145) sys-apps/file-4.06 to /
 >>> Downloading ftp://ftp.gw.com/mirrors/pub/unix/file/file-4.06.tar.gz
--22:20:40--  ftp://ftp.gw.com/mirrors/pub/unix/file/file-4.06.tar.gz
           => `/usr/portage/distfiles/file-4.06.tar.gz'
Resolving ftp.gw.com... done.
Connecting to ftp.gw.com[204.80.150.27]:21... connected.
Logging in as anonymous ... Logged in!
==> SYST ... done.    ==> PWD ... done.
==> TYPE I ... done.  ==> CWD /mirrors/pub/unix/file ... done.
==> PASV ... done.    ==> RETR file-4.06.tar.gz ...
No such file `file-4.06.tar.gz'.
 
 >>> Downloading ftp://ftp.astron.com/pub/file/file-4.06.tar.gz
--22:20:47--  ftp://ftp.astron.com/pub/file/file-4.06.tar.gz
           => `/usr/portage/distfiles/file-4.06.tar.gz'
Resolving ftp.astron.com... done.
Connecting to ftp.astron.com[204.80.150.14]:21... connected.
Logging in as anonymous ... Logged in!
==> SYST ... done.    ==> PWD ... done.
==> TYPE I ... done.  ==> CWD /pub/file ... done.
==> PASV ... done.    ==> RETR file-4.06.tar.gz ...
No such file `file-4.06.tar.gz'.
 
!!! Couldn't download file-4.06.tar.gz. Aborting.
lyntoo root #

While attempting an "emerge mirrorselect" I continually got similar 
errors about "dialog" and when I checked out 
http://mirror.positive-internet.com/debian/pool/main/d/dialog/ (the 
location it was looking) there were all sorts of versions but not the 
one being requested.

This is all after having run emerge sync just prior.  I'm at wits end.  
I have heard all the wonders of emerge and the Gentoo packaging system 
but am so far dumfounded.  Perhaps I screwed something up after 
completing the handbook..  Not sure.

This is a Stage-3 install from the Gentoo BootDisks using mostly pkg 
(-k) installs to start.  Since getting X and gnome installed I have been 
loading fresh packages from the Internet and compiling.

I did make changes to the USE variable in /etc/make.conf:
#USE="X gtk gnome -alsa"
USE="X gtk2 kde gnome imap alsa ldap java"
                                                                                                                                                                             

Any help would be greatly appreciated!  Gentoo seems quite cool, but I'm 
missing something.
Thanks in advance!
Matt