It scarcely seems possible, but two of the staple items on the conversational menu of the left these past years might well be on the edge of disappearance, or at least a change in content. Mumia Abu-Jamal is no longer on death row. Pacifica's wars are amid final settlement. In both instances, it's a good advertisement for pertinacity. Had it not been for those tireless and oft-ridiculed Mumiacs, I doubt US District Judge William Yohn Jr. would have detected those improper jury instructions. Two years ago the Pacifica National Board thought it had the situation under control, and it was only a matter of time before the ultras were cleaned out of their caves in the mountains of Berkeley. But the much-derided left kept at it.

One good feature of Judge Yohn's ruling is that it takes the emphasis off innocence or guilt, which surrenders the basic moral axiom of the anti-death penalty cause, namely, that capital punishment is wrong.

As for Pacifica, the heat is now on those who fought the national board to exhaustion and defeat. Can they produce decent programming and hike Pacifica's dismally low audience figures?

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