http fetch request... timing out.

Increase the drupals 'http_request_timeout' variable. e.g. variable_set('http_request_timeout', 25) or with "drush vset http_request_timeout 25"

Where do we make that set? and is the second parameter in seconds?

Look into your variables table. Yes the parameter is in seconds.

webflo -- I do not have that variable in my variables table; am I correct to create it or are we running different Drupal versions?

csdco, yes you can create this variable yourself. If the variable is not present it just means Feeds will use the default value of 15 seconds.

Is the solution to this issue the same in D7, or has the variable structure changed? I just changed the line in http_request.inc from

      curl_setopt($download, CURLOPT_TIMEOUT, variable_get('http_request_timeout', 15));

to

      curl_setopt($download, CURLOPT_TIMEOUT, variable_get('http_request_timeout', 60));

As an aside, it would be nice to add this to the UI administration section.

Please refer to related issue #1480902: Are there timeouts on Feed importers?.
It has a patch that adds http_request_timeout setting to admin UI.
So marking this as fixed.