Greetings!
My problem is resolved but I'm posting in case anyone else has the same experience. @mods - remove it if you think it inappropriate.
System: Kernel: 3.8-2.towo-siduction-amd64 x86_64 (64 bit)
Desktop: LXDE (Openbox 3.5.0) Distro: siduction 12.2.0 Riders on the Storm - lxde - (201212092122)
LibreOffice downloaded and installed just fine but would not load beyond the splash. Once the splash appeared it would simply shut down. The problem turned out to be with the permission settings. Once adjusted it works great. Hope this will save someone a bit of time / frustration.
regards
mac
A recent LO is in experimental, no need to download and install by hand!