A dark, scary day

We have been living in a house of sick for the last couple days. Brian and I are hacking and coughing, but still valiantly trying to keep Sydney from catching the worst of it all. She's starting to snot a bit here and there, but tells me that she still feels okay. Other than that, I didn't leave the house much at all yesterday. And went to bed early, hence the no blog last night. I'm feeling more like a functioning adult today, so that's good. Still, we'll be hanging out at home today, getting better, bit by bit.
Also, for that reason, I don't really have much of anything to say on the blog here today. I could chat about the weather (still kinda cool, though sunny. Nothing as bad as what's happening to my friends on the East Coast); or Oliver (who is outside sniffing around right now. I see him through my window this instant); or Sydney (who is playing with toys and watching TV).
Or I could talk about the events that unfolded in Tucson last weekend, which is really too sad to wrap my head around. Every time I see that little girl's face on my news, I feel like crying. Every time I see that guy's face, I feel like smashing his nose. Every time I hear someone of a political origin claim that they had nothing to do with this, or try to place blame on someone else, I feel like screaming. Of course, it's not any ONE person's fault this guy went crazy -- besides the shooter's, naturally. It's our society as a whole. But perhaps even blaming vitriolic rhetoric isn't the right course of action either. I think the man himself (certainly) but also a mental health system that perhaps could have helped him ages ago should be held accountable. Saying that he should have gotten help is an understatement, but for politicians -- particularly of the right wing and red state leanings -- to say that the programs failed him is interesting to me, as it is their party that prefers to cut the funding to those kinds of programs, and basically let people sink or swim. The problem, of course, is when the sinking becomes violent and takes the lives and livelihoods of others. As a society, we need to take better care of our crazy people, and that's not going to happen without governmental action. And that can't happen without the funding. It's a weird little circle of life we've got ourselves spinning in. How do we fix it? I'm tempted to say that we need to stop and start all over, but that, above all, would bring anarchy of some kind. Another civil war? Too messy. Jeez, we need help.