Hello, the process command line (as seen in ps, along with the output) is below:

rtg@buzz:~$ sudo /usr/bin/python /usr/share/smart/smart update --after=60
Loading cache...
Updating cache...               ######################################## [100%]

Fetching information for 'oneiric-backports - universe main multiverse restricted'...
-> http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/oneiric-backports/Release            
Release                         ######################################## [  2%]
-> http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/oneiric-backports/Release.gpg        
Release.gpg                     ######################################## [  4%]
                                                                               
Fetching information for 'stable - main'...
-> http://dl.google.com/linux/earth/deb/dists/stable/Release                   
Release                         ######################################## [ 15%]
-> http://dl.google.com/linux/earth/deb/dists/stable/Release.gpg               
Release.gpg                     ######################################## [ 17%]
                                                                               
Fetching information for 'oneiric - partner'...
-> http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/dists/oneiric/Release.gpg               
Release.gpg                     ######################################## [ 22%]
-> http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/dists/oneiric/Release                   
Release                         ######################################## [ 24%]
                                                                               
Fetching information for 'oneiric - main universe restricted multiverse'...
-> http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/oneiric/Release.gpg                  
Release.gpg                     ######################################## [ 28%]
-> http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/oneiric/Release                      
Release                         ######################################## [ 31%]
                                                                               
Fetching information for 'oneiric-security - universe main multiverse restricted'...
-> http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/oneiric-security/Release.gpg        
Release.gpg                     ######################################## [ 42%]
-> http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/oneiric-security/Release            
Release                         ######################################## [ 44%]
                                                                               
Fetching information for 'oneiric-updates - universe main multiverse restricted'...
-> http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/oneiric-updates/Release.gpg          
Release.gpg                     ######################################## [ 55%]
-> http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/oneiric-updates/Release              
Release                         ######################################## [ 57%]
                                                                               
Fetching information for 'oneiric - main'...
-> http://ppa.launchpad.net/novacut/daily/ubuntu/dists/oneiric/Release.gpg     
-> http://ppa.launchpad.net/novacut/daily/ubuntu/dists/oneiric/Release         
Release                         ######################################## [ 68%]
Release.gpg                     ######################################## [ 71%]
                                                                               
Fetching information for 'stable - main'...
-> http://dl.google.com/linux/talkplugin/deb/dists/stable/Release              
Release                                                    (0% Stalled Unknown)

^-- at this point the CPU usage goes to 100% and the process does not terminate for hours.
The deb entry comes from google-talkplugin.list which was in the concatenated file:
deb http://dl.google.com/linux/talkplugin/deb/ stable main

There is no proxy in between me and the internet and there are no traffic shaper/firewall rules that could restrict the access to the host.