Time Magazine's Pictures of the Year

Here's Time Magazine's Pictures of the Year.

I don't know why I'm so unerwhelmed by them. (Rant below the cut)

Maybe it's because very few of them are visually striking. The most visually impressive one is the volcano (#10).

Maybe it's because they chose for the first three pictures to all be ones that depict damage and suffering from the global war on terrorism. The Baghdad car bomb pic is okay, but I quickly got bugged by the fact that the next two were of damage caused by the Israelis agaisnt Hezbollah in Lebanon, and NONE of the pictures show any of the damage done TO Israel. No agenda journalism there, no sir!

Maybe it's because so many of them are black and white or have very little contrast in them. THey're just not interesting to look at.

Hmmm....four pics about Israel being the agressor, or putting up barriers. Three pics of illegal aliens and/or the border wall. Four pics of the war in Iraq that either show damage, wounded soldiers, or terrified Iraqis (during a raid or being questioned). Of the 'political' pics, there's an oddly titled one of Secretary of State Rice, a lone Secret Service man, and only ONE picture of the President. Three of them depict the Sudan/Chad conflict (which I somehow never heard much about all year). There was one pic of a funeral of a Israeli paratrooper who died fighting Hezbollah, the only one that showed ANYTHING about Israel's losses in the conflict, and two photos of our military 'at rest' in Iraq. Then there's what was going on in the rest of the world, the Tour de France, a volcanic eruption, Barbaro's broken leg (and miraculous recovery!), and Mardi Gras in New Orleans.

I don't know. Maybe I wouldn't mind the topic of the pictures if more of them were interesting to look at. The war ones are all okay I guess, but I've seen so many great pics of our troops that the two they chose just don't cut it for me. But come on, the Mardi Gras picture? A black and white shot of the inside of a bar?!? Must be because even though it's a pic about Mardi Gras bringing life back to the city, we can't have it look TOO good, or people might forget that it's George Bush's fault that Katrina destroyed New Orleans. (Yeah, I'm a tad cynical.)

Overall, I'm not even offended by the editorializing I see in these photos. I'm mostly appalled that they couldn't find better pictures to show the tings they wanted to show!


So, what are YOUR favorite pictures from 2006? Leave me a link to them and I'll put together a list here after the 1st of the year. I've got a couple in mind, but I'm curious to see what you all think!

UPDATE- After talking witha friend about these photos, I think part of my problem with them is that the ONLY 'good news' pics are of an injured horse and a bike race! Did NOTHING else good happen in 2006?

Tags- Photos, Media Bias