Can't open text documents **SEVERE**

I simply can't open them. I "dont have permissions" even though i havent touched permissions for months. I cant even open anything on my SFTP client which i really need into so i manage my server.
Here is what it says:

The document “ ” could not be opened. You don’t have permission.
To view or change permissions, select the item in the Finder and choose File > Get Info.

If i got into there i have the permission to "Read and Write"
I've repaired my permissions in disk utility.
I have no idea what is wrong.

Standard questions:

1. Are you working from within an Admin level account?
2. Are there any examples of documents that DO open as expected on your computer (Word files, bookmarks, pictures ... anything)
3. Can you open documents normally if you switch to a fresh, new admin account?

yes my account is admin.
yes everything else opens, just not text documents. (text edit) ( i downloaded a trial of notepad and that didnt work either. )
I made a new admin account and everything works fine.

Okay, now we're getting somewhere!

So you're saying that ONLY text documents don't open, even if you try opening them with another program.

BUT if you go into another account, they DO open -- is that right?

Also, is it possible for you to do a "get info" on one of the documents that won't open and post it (as appropriate of course)?

yes text documents are the only thing ive noticed
and yes they open on other accounts
i can open the ""get info" and im guessing your wondering about the permissions, mine are set to "Read and Write" for all of them.

I wasn't really thinking of that, more along the lines of what default app has been assigned to them.

Have you tried repairing permissions?

yes i have done that, it said it repaired successfuly and nothing works still.

What about with sudo?

Open a terminal -> Applications -> Utilities -> terminal

Check permissions of the file here - make sure no other flags are set on the file
Should be rw-rw-rw-
for a nomral text file - as well as you being the owner and your group being the group.

Note this is an extreme measure giving you full Admin privileges to the file. It will ask for authentication.

You could also try
Which should open up textedit from a full bore root account. Also very dangerous.

First things I would look at is the terminal permissions and make sure nothing is hidden. Please please please be very very very careful with sudo. You can destroy your entire system with the wrong command and sudo - so do not use it lightly. I cannot stress the danger enough.