MY Choice for Person of the Year

Amazingly, Bridget hasn't linked to this yet, but her heart-throb, Vladimir Putin, has been named Time's Person of the Year. Score one for all former KGB goons turned wannabe despots!

Still, we should be grateful for small mercies ... at least it wasn't Al Gore!

In fairness, I must admit that as much as I thought Gore was a poor choice for the Nobel Peace Prize, he would have been a decent one for Person of the Year. While I'm not sure how pronounced his influence has been on the grass-roots level, clearly he caught the attention of the world's elites and the media (just remember the Oscars). And, for better or for worse, ours is a mass media-driven consciousness.

Who else could have been a contender? One of my colleagues at the Daily News suggested "The Cheater," which I thought was a good idea in light of how many high-profile people got busted, in one way or another, for cheating this year. The Celebrity DUI seems like another possibility. Or, for that matter, how about "Fallen Celebrities" in general? This seems to have been a year of perpetual scandal for the people we lionize, idolize, worship -- and then tear down.

As for specific individuals, though, some names come to mind: In the long term, Mother Teresa's posthumous witness to her dark night of the soul, and the great depths of her faith, could have a profound spiritual influence -- but not one that will likely kick in before 12/31/07. Had Barack Obama been more successful as a candidate this year, he would have been a strong contender, too, if for no other reason than the implications for national race relations. And how about Oprah? The fact that she has single-handedly salvaged Obama's campaign shows us just how powerful her influence his -- year in, year out.

But if you ask me, 2007's Person of the Year is Shinya Yamanaka -- a professor at the Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences at Japan's Kyoto University, and the developer of the most promising innovation in stem-cell research to date.

The effects of Dr. Yamanaka's discovery cannot be overstated: He has come up with a method of pursuing potentially life-saving cures that is cheaper, easier, more effective, and infinitely more ethical than embryonic stem-cell research. His discovery will likely save millions of lives -- in our laboratories as well as in our hospitals.

Yamanaka has demonstrated that good science can -- indeed, must -- be pursued ethically. And he has brought the powerful testimony of science to what is the greatest moral dilemma (and moral failing) of our age: our cavalier attitude toward human life. "When I saw the embryo," Yamanka says of the time he looked through a microscope at a fertility clinic, "I suddenly realized there was such a small difference between it and my daughters. I thought, we can’t keep destroying embryos for our research. There must be another way."

Time Magazine has overlooked Dr. Yamanka's awesome contribution to humanity this year, but I suspect history will not.