Finally got it fixed... the problem was two fold...
1. The trailer wiring (being old) had lost ground and a slice in one wire caused a short... while it wasn't the direct cause for the brake light failure it didn't help it (blew the fuse when I did find and fix the problem)
2. The wiring harness to the switch had some how gotten kicked on, nudged... something... and caused a wire to come disconnected from the harness slot without actually pulling the wire out of the harness... don't know why I didn't find it when I was checking the switch, but when I fixed it I got lights again.
Thanks for everybody's help on this