I think the problem lies in the ATI driver, starting with version 2.28. What you have to do to solve the problem is to copy an older version of the libGL.so.1 library to /usr/local/google-earth (or other path, where GE has been installed). I used the unpacked libGL.so.1.2, version 2.27.10 by placing it in the mentioned directory and renaming it to libGL.so.1. GE seems a little bit slower, but it DOES WORK . In my case, at least I'm using Debian/etch (x86).

CAUTION: Do not be tempted to overwrite /usr/lib/libGL.so.1.2 or any other instance of the library already in place, as you might brake OpenGL support for other applications.

Good luck, Cezary.