O.k. I’m posting this, cause I saw that there is a big confusion about this subject…
A lot of Linux users experience this annoying message:
“import site faile; use -v for traceback” during Blender’s start up…
If anyone is experiencing this, here’s the way you could get easilly, rid of it:
First of all you need to have Python-2.2.2.
I want to emphasize on this, because most people think that it is o.k. to just have Python-2.2…
I had Python-2.2.1 and still got the problem… There must be a bug or something in this version, or something… I don’t know… So remember Python-2.2.2…
You can get it from there: http://www.python.org/2.2.2/
Simply, download the Python-2.2.2.tgz archive to anywhere in your home directory you wish…
Then do the usual:
tar -xvzf Python-2.2.2.tgz
cd Python-2.2.2
./configure
make
su
make install
Now you will still have your old Python installation in /usr/bin/python and /usr/lib/pythonx.x…
It doesn’t matter… No prob, cause the new Python-2.2.2 is installed by default, in /usr/local.
The only thing you must do now, is to simply delete /usrbin/python and /usr/lib/pythonx.x and change your PYTHONPATH variable, so that it points to the new installed libs under /usr/local.
Simply put, replace in your PYTHONPATH, wherever you see ‘/usr/lib’ with ‘/usr/local/lib’ instead…
After that, run Blender and enjoy… 
I hope this will do the trick for you…
Spyros.
P.S. 1: I know that this should better go in the Python and Plugins Forum, but a lot of people posted requests on that issue in here, so I figured it would be more appropriate…
Sorry…
P.S. 2: Credits, should go to Modron, cause actually, he is the one (even with out knowing it…) who led me to the conclusion that there must be a problem with Python-2.2.1!!!