Ubuntu aterm "Error opening file for reading: Permission denied"

Fresh install of Ubuntu 12.04.

When I run aterm I get "Error opening file for reading: Permission denied"

ballison@ubuntu:~$ aterm
Error opening file for reading: Permission denied

When I run aterm under strace looking at only "open" system calls I get:

ballison@ubuntu:~$ strace -etrace=open aterm 2>&1 |grep "No such file"
open("/usr/share/X11/XKeysymDB", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/home/ballison/.icons/default/cursors/xterm", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/home/ballison/.icons/default/index.theme", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/icons/default/cursors/xterm", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/pixmaps/default/cursors/xterm", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/home/ballison/.icons/DMZ-White/cursors/xterm", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/home/ballison/.icons/DMZ-White/index.theme", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/home/ballison/.icons/default/cursors/left_ptr", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/home/ballison/.icons/default/index.theme", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/icons/default/cursors/left_ptr", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/pixmaps/default/cursors/left_ptr", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/home/ballison/.icons/DMZ-White/cursors/left_ptr", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/home/ballison/.icons/DMZ-White/index.theme", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/home/ballison/.XCompose", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)