Left mouse button stops working periodically

[Wendell Nichols]

3 times in about as many weeks my left mouse button has ceased to 
function.  I cannot associate this with any particular activity.  
Because you can't do much without that button I have to reboot my laptop 
to get out of it.  This mouse is a bluetooth mouse, but while the 
problem exists the builtin mice don't work either.
Has anyone else seen this problem?
Does anyone have a way to track down the source of this problem?

My system is:
lenovo thinkpad t61p
fedora 12 (64 bit)
using gnome desktop

wcn