Clout...
(begun Saturday 30th March at 4am...)

*Would the disappearance of the Beemer from his driveway earlier, explain the excrutiating levels of the BackFire frequency flooding this corner by the computer?  Not taking any chances, Creep?*

How'd they feel when they heard the news?  You can bet someone called them straight away.  Sort of sick? When the Judge had decided Oscar's bail conditions could be relaxed, and he's now pretty much free to come and go as he pleases, while their daughter is probably in an urn on their mantle?
Not one, but four deranged-with-rage, and quite probably roid-fuelled shots, all aimed carefully at one target, and still he's as good as a free man?
How'd they swing it?
Anything to do with those three high-ranking SAPS Officers mentioned early on in the case?  Did they have the clout to track down that Judge's nearby Area Controller to discover that the lawman had stuff in his Leverage File they could use to persuade the fellow to change his mind and go easy on the Bladerunner?

Sutcliffe and his suppression of the Manase Report have shown that blackmail and coercion are now the order of the day, so it's not such a far-fetched theory after all... Hell, there'll no doubt be any number of silly young women willing to offer the murderous Athlete a shoulder to cry on and more, and you have to wonder whether there'll be a repeat tragedy before he's finally put away where he belongs...  The Project Planners will be pleased, ja..  Another highly publicized effort towards desensitising the population, achieved with relative ease...

When she'd rung last night to offer me some home-made cheesecake, was I going to decline? Why would I? I only have to press Replay to hear her mum saying her daughter is a good girl, for all the lies, deceit, and unkindness to fall away... I've always understood her loyalty to the weirdly dysfunctional Bully she married, and no matter what lengths she goes to, to hide his true character, I can't hold it against her... *shrugs...

When I'd sat up on the edge of the bed at 3.45am this morning, Millie and I were literally rocked by the levels of the BackFire frequency in that little corner, and you have to know the Turd means business... I'd let the dog out sometime after 4am, and I'll admit I was fairly surprised to see he's got THIS one on the valley-facing end of der Bunker operating again... Back when der Bunker, with it's extra-thick walls and what looks like an asbestos roof, was first erected and wired up, he used to run that light off the end 24/7.. It had been my kid who'd one day drawn my attention to the fact that the Natal Mahogony (or Strangler fig I used to call it), down in the valley, had a whole section that looked burned and dying... Sure enough it was in DLOS to the new signal enhancer, and I'd blogged it at the time...

Visible evidence that whatever he was running out of that beauty certainly wasn't anything like your standard 220V of power... He'd stopped using that light shortly afterwards, and I'm damned if that branch hadn't recovered.. Sure, his connections at Parks could've come in one Thursday while I was out and removed the evidence, but I don't think they did, and I'm fairly sure the damage had been caught in time..
I remember taking pictures back then, so those will be buried somewhere in that pile of stored away CD's as well, though I doubt they'll be able to prove anything...

And here we are, of a dark late-March morning, with that astonishingly powerful light communicating with the two enormous lights on the Nunnery...IIRC, it's the one in the toilet window that's running almost neon white, and the one right next to it (on the enclosed verandah?) that's pushing out a deep hectic orange colour.. I figure after eight years of their games I'm sufficiently qualified to say there's some seriously powerful stuff in the air between der Bunker and the Nunnery right now, though it's unlikely to have anything to do with the enormous levels of Backfire running in here... *yawns..

I've come to learn that the majority of regular posters at the mybroadband Forum regard illegally hacking into other computers as some sort of right of passage, and are at great pains to insist that hackers cause no mischief to the machines they gate-crash, and are therefore not to be regarded with distaste... Crackers OTOH, will apparently access your computer or laptop with the sole purpose of causing damage...
A mantra that would've been carefully nurtured over at the Recruitment Centre/Forum, to persuade aspiring Cadets that hacking would be the very first lesson they'd be taught, once they signed up to the Yellow Army...
All they'd be expected to do, was to access their neighbour's system and sit quietly in order to form a link in the chain of homes in their neighbourhood, thereby strengthening the blessed signal, and making it possible for an Area Controller to bounce his way through any number of residences to reach his goal/target...

Am I making any sense at all?  I'm flummoxed when it comes to the technical details of such a scheme, but I guess I've got the basic premise correct?  Trouble of course is, that simple hacking was never going to be enough, and it wouldn't be long before the morals-free Controllers were merrily teaching their bored students how to cause some real mischief on the computers they'd illegally accessed..
Those many recruits who continue to cling to their integrity (you know who you are) had to be dealt with, using kid gloves, and gently persuaded that the hacking was vital to the smooth running of the project.. They'd  be excluded from the Cracker lessons, at least until their Controller was certain he owned them 100%.

The mischief on our PC has increased mightily over recent weeks, and only yesterday I'd been using Word to do the CPF Minutes, when it had hung and declined to close..  Was the Beemer tucked carefully behind the shrubs at the bottom of his drive at the time? I can't remember... *shrugs...   So what's my point?  If this surveillance technology was ever intended for the Good of the country's population, why are ordinary and once-honest citizens being enrolled in their hundreds and taught to employ corrupt and illegal practises against their neighbours?   Rhetorical question, folks, as I believe I've covered that more than enough times already..

Are the gloves finally off for good, Mistuh van Zyl? *studies the vodacom Strategist .. Has the benevolent yet derisive sneer fallen from your face at last?   Though I'll never be a thorn in your Superior's side of the magnitude of say, the Mast Fighter, or Paul Doyon, have I finally managed to irritate you sufficiently into giving Balliram free rein where I'm concerned?  The Abdominal  Frequency that's reared it's ugly head, and can hit me anywhere from under the ribs to my ovaries, depending on the Student's accuracy, is designed to achieve more than just the agonising pain of the Backfire frequency, is it not? *winks..
When that relentless ache arrives and causes me at 67, to feel as though I'm having a bad period, I suspect there's permanent damage being done, with very real intent?
How long before I'll be able to report back here on the end results of this new and sinister endeavour?
How long before the increased mischief on our computer has me giving up my yips of dismay on blogger, and abandoning my pathetic warning cries altogether?

How much does Mr. Bolter know of the laser/wireless surveillance technology? Vanessa?  A nasty business indeed, and it goes a long way to backing my claims that there's a Good Team and a Seriously Rotten Team out there, competing against each other over the airwaves...
Are you going to find out who nuked his dog like that, or will you obey orders and stay silent?
A born trouble-maker? Really?  Then how's about you don't allow yourself to be side-lined, and you go after the Prick that killed his beloved dog?  See, if you were able to poke around enough, I'm betting you'd find my own charming Area Controller was involved, even if just on a Consultancy basis, for nailing defenceless animals is after all, his forte...

The inexplicable death of one of my Vice Chair's extended family's animals recently, and the sudden overnight demise of the Nobster, never mind the murder of Barry Bolter's Cinnamon, should in theory be sufficient for you to get angry... Alas, I suspect that any attempt to track down the author of the frequencies used to destroy that that animal will be met by a wall of silence, and you'll be told in no uncertain terms to mind your own business..  Would you care to bring your laptop out here and go through that pile of CD's to check whether there's anything you can use to nail the Bastard next door?
Is there a single place left in eThekwini that could escape his grubby reach?  I very much doubt it, but I'm game to try...

Forget the bloody drug dealers, and the small fry.. While Michael Barnabas continues to have the country flooded with banned substances, dressed as he is in his squeaky-clean Benefactor's disguise, the criminal element are going to emerge as the winners of this battle of the airwaves, and it's no good to pretend otherwise...
Do you regard my openness here as further evidence of my stupidity?  If so, then you clearly haven't grasped quite how heavily my every move is monitored and recorded... Right down to, and including my taking a dump, do I have company, and I kid you not...

Laughed off as some crazy but highly entertaining old Fool, you want to ask yourself whether Balliram's obsessive interest in every facet of my life is still due to his burning desire for payback, or whether it's become something else entirely... Frosty?  You, an angel?  Anything but, but if you've the means to frighten the Coward into backing off a bit, then I wish you'd do it...
Peace..

---oOo---

Saturday 30th March 2013 at 8.24am.