The Beard, Obama, BP and Visitor No. 20,000

It's quick-hit night at BaT, as we seek to cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time.

Cuban dictator Fidel Castro slide toward death continues. A Spanish newspaper reports that the 80-year-old murderer has a medical condition that kills almost every elderly person it inflicts.

The intestinal disease Fidel Castro is reportedly suffering from is usually easy to treat -- but if complications develop in an elderly patient like the Cuban leader, it can quickly become a death sentence.

The Spanish newspaper El Pais reported Tuesday that the 80-year-old Castro is suffering from diverticulitis, an inflammation of the colon that can lead to serious infection if contents from the intestine leak into the abdomen.

In the elderly, the prognosis for this kind of infection is generally very poor -- with the mortality rate as high as 90 percent. "Castro would definitely qualify as critically ill," said Dr. Roshini Rajapaksa, a gastroenterologist at New York University School of Medicine, referring to the report.

Of course, we've heard these sorts of reports before. Award-wining blogger Babalu will keep us up to date.

...

The junior senator from Illinois says he will seek the Democrat Party's nomination for president in 2008 -- setting himself up to face the junior senator from New York, the junior senator from Massachusetts and a bunch of other people who don't have a prayer of winning.

Sen. Barack Obama launched a presidential campaign Tuesday that would make him the first black to occupy the White House, and immediately tried to turn his political inexperience into an asset with voters seeking change.

The freshman Illinois senator -- and top contender for the Democratic nomination -- said the past six years have left the country in a precarious place and he promoted himself as the standard-bearer for a new kind of politics.

"Our leaders in Washington seem incapable of working together in a practical, commonsense way," Obama said in a video posted on his Web site. "Politics has become so bitter and partisan, so gummed up by money and influence, that we can't tackle the big problems that demand solutions. And that's what we have to change first."

Obama filed paperwork forming a presidential exploratory committee that allows him to raise money and put together a campaign structure. He is expected to announce a full-fledged candidacy on Feb. 10 in Springfield, Ill., where he can tout his experience in the state legislature and tap into the legacy of hometown hero Abraham Lincoln.

It will be interesting to watch if the media continues to write the "first black" storyline. A friend of mine who is also black reminded me this past weekend that Obama "isn't really all-black. His mama was white." I remember similar comments about Colin Powell when he was rumored to be a candidate.

...

Auto-racing champ and all-around good guy Benny Parsons has lost his battle with lung cancer.

Benny Parsons, a former taxi driver turned NASCAR champion, died Tuesday from complications stemming from his short battle with lung cancer, his son Keith said. He was 65.

Parsons, the 1973 NASCAR champion, died in Charlotte, N.C., where he had been hospitalized since Dec. 26.

A member of NASCAR's 50 greatest drivers, Parsons retired from racing in 1988 and moved into the broadcasting booth. He spent the past six years as a commentator on NBC and TNT, and continued to call races from the booth during his treatment.

Of course it wouldn't be a lung cancer death story without the media pointing out that Parsons is a former smoker. But considering he kicked the habit in 1978 -- some 30 years ago -- wouldn't it lead you to believe that maybe something else contributed to the cancer? I don't know, like years of exposure to gasoline, burning rubber and exhaust fumes?

Back on point, though. We met him a few times not long after he retired from racing and became a broadcaster. He was a genuinely nice man. RIP, BP.

...

We missed pointing out earlier that BaT recorded visitor No. 20,000 this past Thursday afternoon. The milestone reader came to us through Google's new Blog Search tool. Funny enough the visitor was from Sumter, S.C., and was searching for information on "james brown children." He or she found this entry.

Since James Brown presumably is still on ice in his Beech Island home some two hours from Sumter, one wonders if it might have been a vanity search by one of Soul Brotha No. 1's kids. If so, please, for the love of all that's good, bury your daddy.

Even funnier to me, visitor No. 20,000, was framed by visitor No. 19,999 from a Twentieth Century Fox IP address in Los Angeles and visitor No. 20,001 coming to us from Tehran, Iran. Talk about a trinity of the odd!