Stupid Immigration Laws

My mother-in-law died last night in Belgium. Under normal circumstances, I would leave for Brussels tomorrow night, to attend the funeral on Saturday morning. Circumstances, however, are not normal. In fact, they are rather brain-dead. Immigration Policies in the EU do not permit long-term Visas, and I have an Indian passport, so I need a visa for Europe, and my Schengen Visa has expired. There is no Belgian Consulate in San Francisco where I can walk in and get a visa today. The nearest consulate is in LA. It made me think, how come, in this age of electronic communication, we cannot tackle situations like this without physical exchange of documents? It also made me write an email to Mr. Ronald De Langhe, Consul General and Ms. V