PROBLEM SOLVED!!!! Ok, here is the skinny. THE MIRRORED.BY FILE FORMAT HAS SIGNIFICANTLY CHANGED. Thankfully I have a few linux boxes around that I have not yet messed with CPAN for a while that were initialized. The NEW format of MIRRORED.BY is this..

24-7-solutions.net:
  frequency        = "daily"
  dst_ftp          = "ftp://mirrors.24-7-solutions.net/pub/CPAN/"
  dst_http         = "http://mirrors.24-7-solutions.net/pub/CPAN/"
  dst_location     = "New York, New York, United States, North America
+ (40.70519 -74.01136)"
  dst_organisation = "24/7 Solutions Ltd"
  dst_timezone     = "-5"
  dst_bandwidth    = "100 Mb/s"
  dst_contact      = "24-7-solutions.net'mirror"
  dst_src          = "ftp.funet.fi"

8086.net:
  frequency        = "daily"
  dst_ftp          = "ftp://ftp.mirror.8086.net/sites/CPAN/"
  dst_http         = "http://www.mirror.8086.net/sites/CPAN/"
  dst_rsync        = "rsync://rsync.mirror.8086.net/CPAN/"
  dst_location     = "London, United Kingdom, Europe (51.50595 -0.1268
+9)"
  dst_organisation = "8086 Limited"
  dst_bandwidth    = "100 Mb/s"
  dst_contact      = "8086.net)support"
  dst_src          = "ftp.funet.fi"

adwired.ch:
  frequency        = "daily"
  dst_ftp          = "ftp://ftp.adwired.ch/CPAN/"
  dst_location     = "Zürich, Switzerland, Europe (47.3735 8.5382)"
  dst_organisation = "Adwired AG"
  dst_timezone     = "+1"
  dst_bandwidth    = "100 Mb/s"
  dst_contact      = "adwired.ch)daniel.kuebler"
  dst_src          = "ftp.funet.fi"
[download]

The OLD version of MIRRORED.BY WAS this:

mirror.ac.za:
  frequency        = "12 Hourly"
  dst_ftp          = "ftp://cpan.mirror.ac.za/"
  dst_http         = "http://cpan.mirror.ac.za/"
  dst_rsync        = "mirror.ac.za::cpan"
  dst_location     = "Cape Town, South Africa, Africa (33.55 18.27)"
  dst_organisation = "TENET"
  dst_timezone     = "+2"
  dst_bandwidth    = "STM-1"
  dst_contact      = "tenet.ac.za,aa"
  dst_src          = "rsync://www.cpan.org/CPAN/"

# dst_dst          = "ftp://cpan.mirror.ac.za/"
# dst_contact      = "mailto:tenet.ac.za,aa
# dst_src          = "rsync://www.cpan.org/CPAN/"

is.co.za:
  frequency        = "daily"
  dst_ftp          = "ftp://ftp.is.co.za/pub/cpan/"
  dst_http         = "http://mirror.is.co.za/pub/cpan/"
  dst_rsync        = "ftp.is.co.za::IS-Mirror/ftp.cpan.org/"
  dst_location     = "Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa, Africa (27.
+997053 -26.143972)"
  dst_organisation = "Internet Solutions"
  dst_timezone     = "+2"
  dst_bandwidth    = "50MB"
  dst_contact      = "is.co.za%ftpadmin"
  dst_src          = "rsync.nic.funet.fi"
  dst_notes        = "Limit to 4 simultaneous connections."

# dst_dst          = "ftp://ftp.is.co.za/pub/cpan/"
# dst_contact      = "mailto:is.co.za%ftpadmin
# dst_src          = "rsync.nic.funet.fi"

saix.net:
  frequency        = "daily"
  dst_ftp          = "ftp://ftp.saix.net/pub/CPAN/"
  dst_location     = "Parow, Western Cape, South Africa, Africa (-33.9
+064 18.5631)"
  dst_organisation = "South African Internet eXchange (SAIX)"
  dst_timezone     = "+2"
  dst_bandwidth    = "T3"
  dst_contact      = "saix.net%ftp"
  dst_src          = "ftp.funet.fi"

# dst_dst          = "ftp://ftp.saix.net/pub/CPAN/"
# dst_contact      = "mailto:saix.net%ftp
# dst_src          = "ftp.funet.fi"
[download]

The code in FirstTime.pm that sets everything up for the continents is this

sub read_mirrored_by {
    my $local = shift or return;
    my(%all,$url,$expected_size,$default,$ans,$host,$dst,$country,$con
+tinent,@location);
    my $fh = FileHandle->new;
    $fh->open($local) or die "Couldn't open $local: $!";
    local $/ = "\012";
    while (<$fh>) {
        ($host) = /^([\w\.\-]+)/ unless defined $host;
        next unless defined $host;
        next unless /\s+dst_(dst|location)/;
        /location\s+=\s+\"([^\"]+)/ and @location = (split /\s*,\s*/, 
+$1) and
            ($continent, $country) = @location[-1,-2];
        $continent =~ s/\s\(.*//;
        $continent =~ s/\W+$//; # if Jarkko doesn't know latitude/long
+itude
        /dst_dst\s+=\s+\"([^\"]+)/  and $dst = $1;
        next unless $host && $dst && $continent && $country;
        $all{$continent}{$country}{$dst} = CPAN::Mirrored::By->new($co
+ntinent,$country,$dst);
        undef $host;
        $dst=$continent=$country="";
    }
    $fh->close;
    $CPAN::Config->{urllist} ||= [];
    my(@previous_urls);
    if (@previous_urls = @{$CPAN::Config->{urllist}}) {
        $CPAN::Config->{urllist} = [];
    }
    
    print qq{

Now we need to know where your favorite CPAN sites are located. Push
a few sites onto the array (just in case the first on the array won\'t
work). If you are mirroring CPAN to your local workstation, specify a
file: URL.

First, pick a nearby continent and country (you can pick several of
each, separated by spaces, or none if you just want to keep your
existing selections). Then, you will be presented with a list of URLs
of CPAN mirrors in the countries you selected, along with previously
selected URLs. Select some of those URLs, or just keep the old list.
Finally, you will be prompted for any extra URLs -- file:, ftp:, or
http: -- that host a CPAN mirror.
[download]

Basically it dynamically builds the Continent and Country lists from this file. The ALL important fields of

 

# dst_dst          = "ftp://ftp.is.co.za/pub/cpan/"
# dst_contact      = "mailto:is.co.za%ftpadmin
# dst_src          = "rsync.nic.funet.fi"
[download]

are missing from the newer MIRRORED.BY file format. So now CPAN needs to fix their newer file format to include the older data info, OR update their sub read_mirrored_by function to not look for the "dst_dst" line.

So for now I can just use an older CPAN MIRRORED.BY file from my older boxes to get my installs running ok. Once the mirrors are configured with the FirstTime.pm init file, I (hopefully) won't have further problems with the CPAN mirrors issue.