The Boston Globe has an interesting story today about Mayor Tom Menino and his “edict” banning voicemail in Boston city government:

Though some think of it as a mundane and necessary cornerstone of modern communication, Mayor Thomas M. Menino banned it more than 10 years ago after suffering through a lengthy recording when he called a city department. He was so irritated that he issued an edict that he still personally enforces with a special vehemence. Menino has been known to sniff out clandestine voice mail and leave indignant messages.

While his methods may be a bit odd, maybe Menino has a point: it only reinforces the image of government as an expansive, bureaucratic monolith when citizens are continually routed through a maze of robotic voicemail boxes.

For all of the talk we hear about the ways new technology may increase citizen participation in politics - making it easier to give small amounts to candidates running for office, using a MeetUp to find people within your area who are interested in the same issues you are - technology also has the ability to make your interactions with government darn frustrating.

To start out the first post in a week (ahem, dropping the ball much?), I want to mention that tonight marks the end of an era. Today’s NYT reviews the series finale of Arrested Development, tonight at 8pm, on FOX. Like Aaron Sorkin’s Sportsnight before it, A.D. is an underappreciated cult favorite, a witty show unmatched on television today, but sadly cancelled before its time.

Until the show gets picked up on Showtime, or some other premium channel, i’ll have to entertain myself with the Bob Loblaw Law Blog (a reference from the show… say it aloud).

This is just too funny.

A prosecutor put on a zippered leather mask and re-enacted a bondage session Friday at a dominatrix’s manslaughter trial, telling the jury the woman did nothing to help her client when he suffered a heart attack. [...] In a re-enactment for the jury, the prosecutor donned the mask, and with both hands, reached back and clutched the top of a blackboard to simulate how Lord was strapped. “After a gasp, his head went forward and she did nothing, nothing for five minutes,” Nelson said, his voice muffled as he spoke through the zippered mouth opening. Lord’s attorney objected, and Judge Charles Grabau agreed. “That’s enough, Mr. Nelson,” the judge said. “Thank you for your demonstration.”

I wonder if he learned that in law school?