First, my xmodmap (I want button 8 to be my button-2/paste button because I cannot press button-2 without scrolling at the same time) --
$ cat .Xmodmaprc
keysym Alt_L = Meta_L Alt_L
keysym Alt_R = Meta_R Alt_R
pointer = 1 8 3 4 5 6 7 2 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Now, the xev events. The phrases between == markers show what I did to the mouse, the rest is xev output. NOTE: no output for button-8 or the left or right scrolling:

==scroll down==
ButtonPress event, serial 31, synthetic NO, window 0x3a00001,
root 0x46, subw 0x0, time 12149783, (138,106), root: (996,130),
state 0x10, button 5, same_screen YES

ButtonRelease event, serial 31, synthetic NO, window 0x3a00001,
root 0x46, subw 0x0, time 12149783, (138,106), root: (996,130),
state 0x1010, button 5, same_screen YES

==scroll up==
ButtonPress event, serial 31, synthetic NO, window 0x3a00001,
root 0x46, subw 0x0, time 12180662, (138,106), root: (996,130),
state 0x10, button 4, same_screen YES

ButtonRelease event, serial 31, synthetic NO, window 0x3a00001,
root 0x46, subw 0x0, time 12180662, (138,106), root: (996,130),
state 0x810, button 4, same_screen YES

==button 1==
ButtonPress event, serial 31, synthetic NO, window 0x3a00001,
root 0x46, subw 0x0, time 12201533, (138,106), root: (996,130),
state 0x10, button 1, same_screen YES

ButtonRelease event, serial 31, synthetic NO, window 0x3a00001,
root 0x46, subw 0x0, time 12201677, (138,106), root: (996,130),
state 0x110, button 1, same_screen YES

==button 3==
ButtonPress event, serial 31, synthetic NO, window 0x3a00001,
root 0x46, subw 0x0, time 12231205, (138,106), root: (996,130),
state 0x10, button 3, same_screen YES

ButtonRelease event, serial 31, synthetic NO, window 0x3a00001,
root 0x46, subw 0x0, time 12231413, (138,106), root: (996,130),
state 0x410, button 3, same_screen YES

==button 2==
ButtonPress event, serial 31, synthetic NO, window 0x3a00001,
root 0x46, subw 0x0, time 12265996, (138,106), root: (996,130),
state 0x10, button 8, same_screen YES

MotionNotify event, serial 31, synthetic NO, window 0x3a00001,
root 0x46, subw 0x0, time 12266228, (138,107), root: (996,131),
state 0x10, is_hint 0, same_screen YES

ButtonRelease event, serial 31, synthetic NO, window 0x3a00001,
root 0x46, subw 0x0, time 12266620, (138,107), root: (996,131),
state 0x10, button 8, same_screen YES

==left-on-wheel==
==right-on-wheel==
==thumb-button-1 (aka button-8)==
==thumb-botton-2 (aka button-9)==
ButtonPress event, serial 31, synthetic NO, window 0x3a00001,
root 0x46, subw 0x0, time 12429784, (138,107), root: (996,131),
state 0x10, button 9, same_screen YES

ButtonRelease event, serial 31, synthetic NO, window 0x3a00001,
root 0x46, subw 0x0, time 12430304, (138,107), root: (996,131),
state 0x10, button 9, same_screen YES

much more likely than not, there is some driver config file around somewhere such that the old driver that reported these events is no longer being loaded and I have some crippled driver loading up and not reporting everything. I've been Googling for hours now, all to no avail. Anybody know what I need to do to get button-2 attached to my thumb button again? Should I just attach it to the second thumb button? Maybe that's easier. It all worked yestarday -- before I had to reboot. Now it's broken.