Like most "average" Americans barraged by a daily onslaught of news headlines, sound bites and printed blurbs in newspapers and on the internet about current events, I've found it easy to become rather desensitized to the majority of "white noise" that has become the daily news. As such, it's easy to lose sight of significant events or "game changers" amid the chatter of everyone behind a microphone, television camera or typing at a news terminal.
