Some 30 years ago and even before, anyone could pull into a gas station and yell out the window, "Fill Er-up with regular." Immediately your order would be instantly obeyed with a smile. You would also be asked by the attendant if you wanted your oil checked. When you paid for the service, the attendant would have a portable mechanical credit card imprinter, and you would simply sign it. No telephone authorization was used ­ the card was automatically taken as valid and was always covered by the bank.

It was simple to fill your vehicle in those days. Only premium and regular were available, or in the case of companies like Sunoco they had a blending pump which provided a number of grades of gas at the pump from just two basic grades, regular and premium.

No witches brew of 20% corn liquor (ethanol) or 100% corn liquor for the gas tank, or finding a gas station that also had diesel fuel for domestic cars and trucks. Soon hydrogen and liquefied natural gas will be next for the collection. Soon gas stations will have a dazzling array of fuel pumps, all having nozzles that will only fit a vehicle that can accept a particular fuel like diesel pumps have today.

A life-long friend of mine worked part-time at a Hess gas station in his later teen years. He didn't stand behind a heated counter or gab the hours away on a cell phone while working. No, he was outside working around the pumps for hours on end checking oil and filling cars, enduring northeast snowstorms and blistering hot summer days on asphalt. He usually had a large wad of money in his pocket from taking payments from customers at their car.

Those that remember the Hess stations of yesteryear will remember the impeccable service and uniformed attendants constantly buzzing around the pumps servicing vehicles and collecting cash. Today, employees wouldn't even consider doing such hard work. For some, it's a monumental effort to raise their hands high enough to work the cash register. Many today can't even make change for the customer, and rely on the register's display to tell them what the change is.

When he applied for his first full-time job, he didn't want to write "Gas station attendant" on the job application. Being a creative fellow he wrote "Refueling Technician" on the application. He got the job he was seeking by showing he had experience in retail.

When a teenager reaches the age where having a car becomes a driving concern, the smarter parents sit down with them and write out the cost of simply buying, registering and maintaining one. They this is compared with a typical part-time minimum wage job. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see the serious deficit this creates.

Periodically, oil in conventional gas engines needs to be replaced. Draining the oil, changing the filter and refilling it with fresh oil will greatly extend engine life. Oil becomes saturated with all manner of dirt, hydrocarbons and microscopic amounts of steel and aluminum as the engine wears.

Are people all that different than a car engine? We eat to fill our stomach (gas tank.) When we go out to a movie, jog or go out to dinner to unwind we are also "changing our oil" with an exchange stress and toil for fun. When an engine runs out of antifreeze in hot weather it overheats and dies. If we become dehydrated we can overheat and die, too. If an engine becomes contaminated with dirt it destroys numerous mechanical parts. If internally we become contaminated with dirt, infections can make us seriously ill.

Inherent to the human being's genetic programming is a deep-seated desire for some type of religion. The religion itself is not relevant. What matters is that we are doing something we believe in. Big media knows this, and has worked hard using armies of psychologists to make everyone accept the media as a universal religion.

What does a PDA, television or a computer have in common? Display screens. These quietly steal away enormous amounts of your time each and every day, like involuntary busy work. With any kind of screen in your life, there is no such thing as a "day of rest." Anyone who doubts this only needs to keep a record of minutes spent in front of a screen each day. The number of hours permanently lost each week with non-work related screen watch is truly amazing.

Rest on any given day is only an illusion. People who buy a cell phone or a PDA frequently proclaim, "I couldn't live without this!" When I hear this I simply ask them, "Just what did you do in life BEFORE you owned one?" No answer is ever forthcoming from such a logical question. Whether someone is tethered to a cell phone, PDA or a videogame the results are still the same. There is no rest - and no oil change.

Some months ago in NYC, a cell phone user was obsessively tinkering with their phone not paying attention to where they were going- and stepped into an open manhole, dropping down to the bottom. They lived to tell about it ­ but only after a hospital stay. He should have been neutered for his dangerous level of stupidity, which is a threat to all humanity.

And last but not least are the churches. These are the SFTP organizations - "Sinners Fill the Plate." But we must respect the role they fulfill. They replace the polluted, sin-filled oil in the souls of those who attend with a fresh load of Holy Oil guaranteed to last just 6 days. No discount coupons allowed ­ just cash or check good the day service is rendered. Some churches have the gall to pass the plate twice. This allows those holding back whatever money was left in their pocket to put that into the plate, too. Nothing like those second chances in life

Christian churches have often used the Bible to assume the role of accuser, judge and jury in all things pertaining to life. For churches, no subject is off-limits. Today we hear of thought crimes, but churches have been convicting their flock of that for 2,000 years.

An evil thought must prevail before the sin is committed, hence the thought crime. Yet we constantly hear about ministers and "Fathers" who have been doing nasty deeds with altar boys and boy scouts for decades. It's well known that with molestation and sodomy, only a very small fraction of those that were tormented with this as children will ever come forward.

Shame and humiliation plays a large role. So just what is this "Father" who preaches to his flock? Is he given this title because somewhere in some dark and forgotten room in a convent, a nun waits to give birth to his child? Or some teenage girl waits in a home somewhere doing the same? Angels and heaven are commonly associated with the color white. But did you ever wonder why these men dress in black? Where is that declared in the Bible along with everything else going on in churches?

There are those in the world who just can't wait to change your oil ­ whether it's the oil in your car, your life, your beliefs or the oil within each of us. Will anyone step forward and simply grab the wrist of the hand holding the wrench that opens the drain plug for the mind? Most people will help the mechanic, telling them which way to turn the plug to loosen it.

And the friend who worked at a Hess station for a few years? He didn't own a car, and walked to work at the station through all kinds of weather.

Ted Twietmeyer