/etc/profile and setting env variables

["shrevie@ntnation.com" <shrevie@ntnation.com>]

I am trying to set two specific environment variables (I'm installing 
Sun Java) and I need to append a path to the PATH variable and also 
create a new environment variable.

The problem is, however: I have no idea WHERE to do this.

I want to do this for all users on the system, so I thought: edit 
/etc/profile

I did that... but it doesn't seem to make a difference, and worse, 
/etc/profile seems to get nuked upon logout/login. So clearly I am doing 
this in the wrong place.....

Here's my questions:

a) Where do I edit global profile changes?

b) I looked at the .profile and the .bashrc files in my user 
directories... I may be an idiot, but I don't see where they are in turn 
calling a global profile file... or is it the other way around (a global 
file is calling them?)

Thanks for suggestions and help.... I tried Google and the list 
archives, but I can't seem to formulate a good search that gets me the 
info I need.

Moe