Local Auto Executive On Glide Path For Recognition

Hispanic Republican Club Takes A Stand On Border Security

Duke Machado could not hide his pleasure.

A little bit after lunch, the phone on his desk rang and Mr.
Bud Kennedy of the "Ft. Worth Star-Telegram" told him to
stand by, he would be calling back in 10 minutes to
interview him about his organization's unusual stand on
border protection.

Mr. Kennedy called back right on schedule and spent 45
minutes probing the Machado personality, his history and
political views, for a lengthy news feature that will appear
in his newspaper's Sunday editions.

It is a rather unusual development, to say the least.

You see, Duke Machado and his associate, Bert Hernandez,
have scheduled a rally at 7 p.m. in Waco's Heritage Plaza
outside the City Hall to protest the protesters who are
rallying in 70 cities across the nation in outrage over a
new statute just signed into law in Arizona.

The basics: If you are apprehended for some other offense,
arrested, and a state law enforcement official such as a
city policeman or state trooper discovers you are an illegal
alien, the court will place a hold on you immediately. You
will be held pending a decision by Immigration authorities.
Either they will deport you back to Mexico, or they will
turn you loose, but then you will have to make bail for the
other offense.

It's something that is rankling Hispanics deeply.

Not so the membership of the Hispanic Republican Club of
McLennan County.

Mr. Machado is a native of San Marcos, Texas, an Air Force
veteran who worked on cruise missiles during his enlistment
in the Air Force. He is a self-described "car guy."

What he means by that is he is the General Manager of Gloff
Ford in Clifton.

Mr. Hernandez is a veteran of the U.S. Army Special Forces,
a Green Beret who served in Vietnam and other hot spots
around the globe before he came home to Texas and became a
car guy.

He is the General Manager of Bird-Kultgen Ford in Waco. Mr.
Hernandez came to this nation as a lad of 13 when his
parents emigrated from Mexico. After a lengthy process,
they were all naturalized as U.S. citizens by taking an oath
in U.S. District Court to defend the U.S. Constitution
against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

How did Mr. Kennedy find out about the rally and the
Hispanic Republican Club of McLennan County?

Why, he read all about it in "The Legendary" at this
blogspot address, www.downdirtyword.blogspot.com

It's that kind of year, this midterm election year of 2010.

One friend calls another with an idea. They in turn contact
yet another friend who gives them some approval and
volunteers to help - and they're off to the races.

It's all done with phone wires, iPods, cell phones, internet
hook-ups and weblogs. Before the day was over, the Waco
TEAParty was on board and raring to go.

Reportedly, the Waco city officials weren't all that easy to
work with until Mr. Machado and Mr. Hernandez pointed out to
them this little thing called the First Amendment to the
United States Constitution.

It says you have the freedom to express yourself and to
peaceably assemble to petition the government for a redress
of grievances.

Their grievance: As Hispanics, they feel the federal
government is failing in its constitutional duty to protect
and defend the borders. It's quite abusive, they say, to
have to compete with illegal alien workers who are employed
by companies who insist that Americans will not do the work
they pay the illegal aliens to do.

After all, there is a lawful mechanism in place to address
that situation. It's called a work visa and you get one
when your employer has demonstrated a need to the government
that he must recruit workers outside the national boundaries
and that the company will employ them as full time workers.

"Illegals need to get on one side or the other, and stay
there," Duke Machado said, stabbing the air with his
forefinger for emphasis. There is no doubt that he is
stabbing the ground on either side of the Rio Grande on an
imaginary map only he can see as he talks.

"They can't have it both ways."

He and his associate, Mr. Hernandez, who does double duty as
a Woodway police officer, will provide a public address
system and microphone for people to voice their opinions.

"I don't want people who are pro-amnesty to go up and give
their opinion," said Mr. Machado. "Let them go to one of
the other rallies. They're having May Day rallies to
protest the new Arizona law in more than 70 cities across
the nation."

It's going to be an anti-May Day May Day rally in downtown
Six Shooter Junction. And that's that.

For now.

Major media are invited and will likely be watching with the
unblinking eyes of their mini-cameras.

When you stop to think about it, it all makes good sense.
After all, Mr. Henry Ford often recruited workers from other
nations such as Poland, Germany and Czechoslovakia.

He sponsored his employees for a work visa. To retain that
visa, they were required to attend classes in English,
civics and American history in preparation for that pesky
State Department examination. When they passed, he gave
them a send-off at his Dearborn, Michigan headquarters that
was very symbolic.

Each graduate would climb stairs that led to the bottom of a
huge concrete container prominently labeled "Melting Pot."

His River Rouge Assembly Plant took in raw materials from
ships that plied the Great Lakes and shipped finished
automobiles, ships, airplanes and other automotive products
to customers around the globe. All materials were
manufactured on the spot - steel, cast iron, glass, copper,
rubber, glass - you name it. Mr. Ford made it right there
in Dearborn. He paid them $5 a day - a sum unheard of.

As their names were called, each new graduate would climb
out of the melting pot and descend to shake Henry Ford's
hand and receive their diploma.

The next day, they would be sworn in by a U.S. District
Judge. They were then citizens of the greatest nation in
the world. Y'all come. Heritage Square, 7 p.m.