Medary.com

Play-in game: Winthrop over Arkansas-Pine Bluff

First Round:
Duke over Winthrop
California over Louisville
Texas A&M over Utah State
Siena over Purdue
Notre Dame over Old Dominion
Baylor over Sam Houston State
St. Mary's over Richmond
Villanova over Robert Morris

Second Round:
Duke over California
Texas A&M over Siena
Baylor over Notre Dame
Villanova over St. Mary's

Regional Semifinals:
Duke over Texas A&M
Baylor over Villanova

South Regional Final:
Duke over Baylor

First Round
Fairfield at George Mason
Western Carolina at Marshall
South Dakota at Creighton
Harvard at Appalachian State
Middle Tennessee Stateat Missouri State
Portland at Northern Colorado
Pacificat Loyola Marymount
Southern Mississippi at Louisiana Tech

Quarterfinals
Harvard at Fairfield
Creighton at Marshall
Louisiana Tech at Missouri State
Portland at Pacific

Semi-Finals
Harvard at Marshall
Pacific at Missouri State

Championship
Missouri State over Harvard

First Round
Indiana State at St. Louis
Wisconsin-Green Bay at Akron
VCU at George Washington
College of Charleston at Eastern Kentucky

Quarterfinals
St. Louis over Akron
VCU over College of Charleston

Semifinals
VCU over St. Louis

First Round
Boston U. at Oregon State
Colorado State at Morehead State
IUPUI at Hofstra
Duquesne at Princeton

Quarterfinals
Oregon State over Morehead State
IUPUI over Duquesne

Semifinals
IUPUI over Oregon State

Championship
IUPUI over VCU

WEST
Eastern Washington (19-11, 12-4 Big Sky) at Oregon (16-15, 7-11 Pac-10)
SMU (20-10, 10-6 Conference USA) at New Mexico (18-12, 9-7 Mountain West)
UC Davis (21-10, 12-4 Big West) at California (18-13, 11-7 Pac-10)
Utah (22-11, 10-6 Mountain West) at St. Mary's (21-9, 12-2 West Coast)
New Mexico State (18-13, 8-8 WAC) at Arizona State (17-13, 9-9 Pac-10)
Pepperdine (20-11, 9-5 West Coast) at BYU (20-9, 11-5 Mountain West)
Houston (17-14, 10-6 Conference USA) at Texas Tech (17-14, 5-11 Big 12)
Nevada (17-15, 10-6 WAC) at Wyoming (19-11, 9-7 Mountain West)

Second Round
New Mexico over Oregon
California over Utah
Arizona State over BYU
Texas Tech over Wyoming

Third Round
California over New Mexico
Arizona State over Texas Tech

Fourth Round
California over Arizona State

MIDWEST
Butler (23-9, 14-4 Horizon) at Illinois State (24-7, 16-2 Missouri Valley)
Eastern Michigan (22-8, 11-5 Mid-American) at Purdue (14-16, 9-9 Big Ten)
Prairie View A&M (15-13, 12-6 SWAC) at Kansas (15-15, 5-11 Big 12)
Stephen F. Austin (18-10, 13-3 Southland) at Creighton (20-10, 13-5 Missouri Valley)
Eastern Illinois (23-10, 16-2 Ohio Valley) at Marquette (16-15, 6-10 Big East)
Illinois (16-14, 7-11 Big Ten) at Western Kentucky (21-10, 14-4 Sun Belt)
Oral Roberts (23-9, 15-3 Summit) at Missouri State (20-10, 12-6 Missouri Valley)
Mississippi (17-14, 7-9 SEC) at Samford (22-10, 14-6 Southern)

Second Round
Illinois State over Purdue
Kansas over Creighton
Illinois over Marquette
Mississippi over Oral Roberts

Third Round
Kansas over Illinois State
Illinois over Mississippi

Fourth Round:
Illinois over Kansas

EAST Iona (18-13, 13-5 Metro Atlantic) at Maryland (19-12, 5-9 ACC)
East Carolina (22-10, 10-6 Conference USA) at Drexel (17-13, 11-7 Colonial)
Providence (16-14, 7-9 Big East) at Boston U. (16-14, 11-5 America East)
American (22-9, 13-1 Patriot) at Old Dominion (18-13, 14-4 Colonial)
Gardner-Webb (28-4, 15-1 Big South) at Charlotte (17-13, 9-5 Atlantic 10)
North Carolina A&T (21-10, 14-2 MEAC) at Wake Forest (18-13, 7-7 ACC)
South Florida (15-15, 6-10 Big East) at Florida (14-16, 7-9 SEC)
Florida Gulf Coast at Miami (FL) (17-13, 4-10 ACC)

Second Round
Maryland over Iona
Drexel over Boston U.
Old Dominion over Gardner-Webb
Florida over Miami (FL)

Third Round
Maryland over Drexel
Florida over Old Dominion

Fourth Round
Maryland over Florida

EAST
Robert Morris (23-8, 17-1 Northeast) at St. Bonaventure (22-9, 9-5 Atlantic 10)
Duquesne (20-11, 9-5 Atlantic 10) at Northwestern (16-14, 7-11 Big Ten)
Kent State (20-10, 12-4 Mid-American) at Michigan (17-13, 8-10 Big Ten)
Pittsburgh (16-14, 5-11 Big East) at Toledo (24-8, 12-4 Mid-American)
Harvard (20-8, 11-3 Ivy) at Syracuse (22-10, 7-9 Big East)
Richmond (19-12, 7-7 Atlantic 10) at Delaware (21-11, 11-7 Colonial)
VCU (20-12, 12-6 Colonial) at St. Joseph's (17-14, 9-5 Atlantic 10)
Hofstra (19-13, 11-7 Colonial) at Penn State (17-13, 8-10 Big Ten)

Second Round
St. Bonaventure over Northwestern
Toledo over Kent State
Syracuse over Delaware
Penn State over VCU

Third Round
Toledo over St. Bonaventure
Syracuse over Penn State

Fourth Round
Syracuse over Toledo

WNIT Semifinals
California over Illinois
Syracuse over Maryland

WNIT Championship
Syracuse over California

WEST
#8 UMKC (16-15, 12-6 Summit) at #1 Memphis (17-13, 10-6 Conference USA)
#5 Akron (18-13, 11-5 Mid-American) at #4 Wichita State (17-14, 8-10 Missouri Valley)
#7 Cal-State Bakersfield (16-12 independent) at #2 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (22-10, 12-4 Southland)
#6 Portland Pilots (18-12, 7-7 West Coast) at #3 Washington (12-17, 7-11 Pac-10)

West Second Round
Memphis over Wichita State
Washington over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi

West Championship
Washington over Memphis

EAST
#1 Appalachian State (19-12, 14-6 Southern) at #8 seed Charleston Southern (17-13, 9-7 Big South)
#4 Towson (15-15, 9-9 Colonial) at #5 Fairfield (19-13, 11-7 Metro Atlantic)
#2 College of Charleston (19-11, 13-7 Southern) at #7 Morehead State (22-10, 14-4 Ohio Valley)
#6 Bradley (16-13, 12-6 Missouri Valley) at #3 Louisville (14-17, 5-11 Big East)

East Second Round
Appalachian State over Fairfield
Louisville over Bradley

East Championship
Louisville over Appalachian State

WBI Championship
Louisville over Washington

SECTION ONE: The Word:
I'm sort of like a news feed, but slower, buggier, and much, much quirkier . . .

Stand by for Hoop-a-rama posts, where your humble blogger picks ALL of the Division I college basketball tournaments . . .

SECTION ONE: The Word:
The attempted murder of the Constitution at the hands of the Washington Democrats:
Pelosi Tells Caucus They'll Be Using Slaughter Strategy, and That Vote Could Happen Next Week
The Democrats’ Tangled Web
Mark Levin Calls For Slaughter's Removal
Mark Levin: The GOP should move to have Slaughter expelled from the House -- featuring audio . . .
The shape of things to come
Suicide Pact?
Constitution Butchers: Stop Pelosi’s Slaughter House

Here's the deal:

I think Caddell and Schoen actually understate the peril that the Democrats in Washington have manufactured for themselves and the oldest political party in the U.S., if not the world.

If the Democrat's health care reform passes, then the Democratic Party is history. The Democratic Party will be torn apart by an enraged American electorate this November, losing even seats that are now in the "safe" column, and the Democrats will continue to lose elections again and again in every local election, over and over again, repeatedly up to and including an epic landslide victory of--probably--Sarah Palin over Barack Obama in the 2012 Presidential Election.

The American public's patience with the Democratic Party will have run out.

A (D) behind your name will mean political Death. Anyone who professes support or sympathy for a Democratic candidate will be seen for what they are: an amoral looter, who spits on the Constitution and 230+ years of American classical-liberal political philosophy. It will become a hazardous thing to proclaim in public that you're a Democrat, because the people will at last see Democrats for what they have become: thuggish collectivists more akin to Mao than to Jefferson and Jackson, Truman and JFK. The Democratic Party will pass from American history, and it will have richly earned that fate.

If the Democrats don't pass health care this year, then they'll receive an historic rebuke of unprecedented proportions in the Congressional elections this November, but will survive as a political party to fight another day. I don't believe for one second that Barack Obama is capable of tacking hard to the center and governing as a moderate like Bill Clinton did, but if he manages to do that, he might--might survive to be re-elected in 2012. But I sincerely doubt it.

If there is a 2010 and 2012 election--and given the Democrats' plan now to utterly ignore the Constitution and pass a bill out of the House without actually voting for it--the ironically-aptly-namedd Slaughter Solution--it is not entirely obvious that the current Democratic political leadership will deign to allow an election to occur--but if those elections occur, get used to the idea of President Palin.

Obama and the Democrats have talked cavalierly about the Republicans and insurance companies needing to beware of torches and pitchforks. The Democrats need to take their own advice.

Democrats in Washington need to consider what happens after, by their own actions, the Constitution is no longer the law of the land. A vote for the Slaughter Strategy is a vote to become an Outlaw Congress, a vote with the practical effect of dissolving the Constitution. Perhaps the political process can absorb this blow and deal with it. Maybe the Supreme Court will step in and take the keys away from this now obviously power-drunk Congress. I don't know what happens next, but it's not going to be very much fun for pretty much anybody in this country. I do know that there is a political explosion building in this country, and the fuse is this health care nonsense. "Light fuse, get away" was the advice on the side of many of the fireworks I've set off in my days. The Democrats have lit the fuse, and are adamant about holding on tightly to the firework as the fuse burns down, thinking that the coming fountains and sparks and explosions will make them look even more beautiful and awesome than they think they do right now.

They think the hiss of the fuse is the approval of their audience.

It isn't.

There's still time to put out the fuse. There's still time to save the Democratic Party.

SECTION ONE: The Word:
Today, we come to the conclusion of our Thoughts for the Day from The Road to Serfdom by F. A. Hayek. I was continually struck at how very timely Hayek's observations in 1944 were still today.

Ummm...regarding that "Consent Of The Governed" notion. -- "More people believe in freaking ALIEN ABDUCTIONS than believe in the representative legitimacy of current government." And this is an exceedingly dangerous state of affairs. It will become more dangerous if the elected politicians and the unelected bureaucrats persist in ignoring the will of the people. If you think that people are angry now, just wait until Pelosi tries to pass a bill out of the House without taking a vote--the Slaughter Option. If they do that it will trigger an instant Constitutional Crisis--not one between the branches of government, but between the Congress and the people themselves. We really, really, really, really don't want to go there--that's playing with an especially dangerous kind of fire.

From The Road To Serfdom, by F. A. Hayek, 1944, Fiftieth Anniversary Edition, 1994, The University of Chicago Press.

To act on behalf of a group seems to free people of many of the moral restraints which control their behavior as individuals within the group.

Excerpted under Fair Use for purposes of non-commercial education, discussion and comment. Any transcription or typographical errors are mine.

SECTION ONE: The Word:
My race is “American”