The deadline to vote is just more than a week away. (As in, it's Tuesday, November 2, dig). And it turns out your vote's important. A new poll conducted for the Oregonian shows the governor's race between Democrat John Kitzhaber and Republican Chris Dudley at a dead heat, with Kitz ahead by a (statistically insignificant) nose.

Oh, and those state ballot measures?
The same pollster also found voters really like Kevin Mannix's cynical and expensive plan to mandate new jail and prison sentences, Measure 73. Also popular? Lottery money for parks and wildlife. Not so popular? Pot dispensaries and a private East County casino.

A potentially gang-related shooting left one man dead and three others injured last night on East-Southeast Division. They were drinking at the Good Call Sports Bar & Grill.

Under-reported Iraqi casualties. Little investigation of abuses. A dangerous reliance on private militias. These are the findings (the New York Times links to several stories here) in the hundreds of thousands of classified Iraq war documents dropped by WikiLeaks, offering an unprecedented look at American military conduct in the 21st century.

Meanwhile, the backlash has begun. Lots of people are starting to say not so nice things the founder of WikiLeaks, mad albino-ish genius Julian Assange. He lives like a fugitive and, quite naturally, is worried about his safety.

A witch who frequents a coastal California liquor store is raising Hecate over the "hate imagery"—flames and stakes—she noticed on a bottle of beer darkly named Witch's Wit. Which is funny because, the witch in this case, Vicki Noble, apparently has none. Wit, that is.

Who says meth ain't for fancy people, too? Authorities cleared out a freshman dormitory at hoity-toity Georgetown University in the wee small hours of the morning after chemicals used to make the drug were found in a top floor room.

So, yeppers, Google really is kinda slimy. Big Brother admits it really was improperly accessing e-mails and passwords and other data floating around wirelessly while its surveillance mapping trucks were doing their thing on city streets in nearly three-dozen countries.

This is especially bad news, because Wilford Brimley will be dead by then. According to new government study, the number of Americans with diabeetus could triple by the year 2050. Sweet!