NO CALL TO ARMS

"Americans have managed to create a Catch-22: someone smart enough to be President isn't dumb enough to run for the office." RICHARD H. FAWCETT Uncasville, Connecticut

IN MIDAFTERNOON ON NOV. 8, BILL Clinton was assured a second term as President [CAMPAIGN '96, Nov. 20]. Ironically the assurance came from an unlikely source: a new Republican named Colin Powell. All that is left of the 1996 presidential campaign now that Powell has decided not to run is the rhetoric, vitriol, insults and blame. This will be Bob Dole's last hurrah, and afterward everything will go back to being the way it was in Washington. CARLOS R. CASTILLO Miami

IN A FEW MONTHS I'LL BE 60 YEARS OLD. I have voted in every presidential election since I was eligible, but in all those years there has not been a single candidate that I supported and voted for wholeheartedly. Rather, it has always been a choice between two marginal candidates. I had hoped that General Colin Powell would run, so I could vote--at least once in my lifetime--for a candidate I truly wanted to be President. While I'm disappointed that Powell isn't going to run, I understand his reasons and cannot disagree with them. The U.S. has ended up with a political system that chases away the statesmen and leaves only the self-serving politicians. Washington is like a circus, but instead of having white stallions that march in time to the music, there are sleek, fat seals that play their horns without rhythm and vigorously applaud at every opportunity. AL BROGDON New Britain, Connecticut Via E-mail

YOUR COVER WITH ITS PHOTOMONTAGE of Senator Bob Dole's head on top of General Powell's uniformed body was the most tasteless thing I have ever seen. I was greatly offended by TIME's disrespect to two of the most significant men in this country today. DOROTHY GENTRY DeSoto, Texas Via E-mail

POWELL MUST HAVE BEEN LAUGHING UP his sleeve when the media's and his well- wishers' coaxing, flattery and cajoling lured him into the momentary pleasure of grabbing the greatness "thrust" upon him. And with a militaristic strategy he used that occasion to promote the sale of his book in a nationwide tour. Otherwise, it was clear that a straight soldier and unruffled thinker of Powell's high caliber could not have kept everyone guessing up until the last moment. He must have assessed the very remote possibility of his success despite what his political soothsayers might have suggested. He knew well that the time was not yet ripe for him to jump into the fray. OM JULKA Moreland Hills, Ohio

THE COUNTRY DOES NOT NEED A BOB Dole or a Bill Clinton. The nation does need candidates with faith and confidence in their own beliefs and the courage to campaign on them--regardless of the audience. ROBERT A. PARKES Laramie, Wyoming Via E-mail

I WAS NEVER A REAL POWELL FAN UNTIL the day he pulled out. Ah! Absence makes the heart ponder. The graceful way he exited clearly illustrates that he is the most qualified man for the job. PETER T. LIEU Los Angeles

POWELL, YOU WERE A BEAUTIFUL DREAM, but you have left us Americans with an ugly nightmare. JOSEPHINE WILKINSON Model, Colorado

GENERAL POWELL WITH HIS HONESTY, sincerity, loyalty and common sense would never fit in or survive in Washington. Why throw a perfectly good apple into a bushel filled with rotten ones? GEORGE S. KULAS Fond du Lac, Wisconsin

IT OFFENDS ME THAT DOLE (AND CLINton too, for that matter) wants to be President so badly that he has placed more faith in the ''pros'' than in himself. It is my hope that voters will reject any candidate who chooses to abandon his or her past and trash core beliefs in the hope of winning an election. THOMAS CARSON Simsbury, Connecticut Via E-mail

WONDERS OF THE COSMOS

THE CLOSE-UP IMAGES OF THE UNIVERSE offered by the Hubble Space Telescope [SPACE, Nov. 20] are absolutely fabulous! They clearly reflect the glory and majesty of God in the ongoing process of creation. We must acknowledge our insignificance in the presence of such power and stand in awe at the spectacle. CHARLES G. VOELKER Palm Desert, California Via E-mail

THE MORE WE LEARN ABOUT THE COSmos, the more we realize how trivial we are in this amazingly vast and complex system. In such a universe, which is far beyond human imagination, we are obsessed with our immature and selfish thoughts, destroying and tearing one another apart under various banners. We are nothing but a joke in this universe. ALI PIRAHANCHI Johannesburg, South Africa Via E-mail

THE HUBBLE PHOTOGRAPHS ARE AS irrelevant as they are beautiful. Suppose our vision were limited to the range of the human eye and the resources spent on seeing farther into the universe had been devoted to improving our own speck of cosmic dust, the earth. How much worse off would we be? JAMES H. REYNOLDS Berkeley, California

THANKS FOR THAT STUNNING TRIP through the heavens. It left me awestruck and starry-eyed. MARGUERITE MEYERS Lambertville, Michigan

AFTER LOOKING AT THE IMAGES OF THE universe, I began to wonder: Are we really significant? John Kennedy definitely got the picture and could see the importance of going into space with the goal of man's landing on the moon. Apparently House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Senator Bob Dole don't get the picture, as evidenced by their efforts to make cuts in the meager NASA budget in the Contract with America. A picture in the book The Pale Blue Dot, by Carl Sagan, shows the earth as a tiny point of light that is barely visible among a sea of similar points of light, many of which are more visible and much brighter. Of course, no evidence of habitation can be seen in that photo. The pictures serve to put us in our place. DAVID PYLES Atlanta

EVERY TIME I SEE A FAVORITE WOODLAND area laid waste for yet another shopping mall, I gnash my teeth and think, Well, I have just lived too long and become a moss-backed old grump. But by jingo, it ain't true! Your Hubble space photos have put the wonderment back into my life! What's a little more concrete on an obscure planet circling a minor star compared to the crushing and splendiferous grandeur of all that's going on out there? WALTER MITCHELL JR. Dunwoody, Georgia

THE HUBBLE PICTURES ARE BREATHtaking. With such discoveries and scientific advances, this is truly the age in which to be alive. DEBRA KREB Somerset, Wisconsin

ISRAEL COPES WITH DIVISION

AFTER READING YOUR ARTICLE ON RABIN, "Man of Israel" [COVER STORIES, Nov. 13], I was fascinated by the concept of dugri: "the idea of placing substance before style, of stripping away layers of subterfuge, of making no attempt at pretense or deception." I believe that for a person to fully develop dugri, he or she has to have suffered greatly, to have fought, to have buried friends as well as enemies. Suffering will then have stripped away the ego and with it the pretense. Such a man was Rabin. Clinton could learn from his late friend. BILL LYON Rohnert Park, California Via E-mail

WITH THE EXCEPTION OF A SMALL MInority, from both the left and the fundamentalist right, most Israelis rallied around the goal of defending their country against a war coming from an enemy outside its borders. Painful as it may sound, the peace process now leaves Israel without its main unifying factor. I hope the enemy within, which up until now has been quiet, will not accomplish what the Arab nations have tried to do for the past five decades: bring about the destruction of the state of Israel. JOSEPH AMBAR Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

RABIN TRIED TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT driving the process for a better world. Everyone has the ability to act, whether it be through violence or legislation or diplomacy. Many whose names are forgotten have tried. Many more will continue to work for peace and for justice and for dignity. We who live our daily lives in privilege or in poverty, in freedom or in oppression, must be willing to put peace above profit and dignity above power. A world without hate and violence is a world worth living in. ALISON N. CRANE Aberdeen, Scotland Via E-mail

THE DEATH OF PRIME MINISTER RABIN illustrates the vulnerability of the peace process and the state of Israel. But we must not forget the deaths of innocent people, Palestinian and Jewish. We should view Rabin's death as a reminder that violence and hatred exist throughout the area. Although decisions are made and accords agreed upon at the negotiating table, they cannot serve to stop the unjust killing of civilians. Let us hope the assassination of Rabin will be followed by gradual progress of the peace plan carried out by his successor as Prime Minister, Simon Peres, a process that will eventually bring harmony to the region. MIDORI INAHARA Yokohama, Japan Via E-mail

THERE IS A CLOSE RELATIONSHIP BEtween political and economic activities. Likewise did the Israeli peace process have a positive impact on foreign investment and on the Israeli economy. These investments have created prosperity in which Israel can serve as a bridge to the other countries in the region. The probable result will be more stability in the Middle East. Foreign investors should not be deterred by subversive activities like the brutal assassination of Rabin. They should realize that they can play an important role in picking up the "peaces" by not withdrawing. PAUL T.P.C. LIPS The Hague, the Netherlands

CONSEQUENCES OF EXTREMISM

ALTHOUGH PENETRATING, KLEIN HALEVI'S views on the dynamics of the right-wing extremism raised at least one serious doubt [FIRST PERSON, Nov. 20]. Halevi wrote that Rabin demanded that "Israelis stop regarding themselves as a permanently ghettoized people and repudiate the biblical prophecy--or curse--that decreed that the Jews as a 'people shall dwell alone and shall not be reckoned among the nations.'" But contrary to Halevi's conclusion, this prophecy was not disproved by the presence of "foreign leaders who came as mourners to Rabin's funeral." Former President Jimmy Carter put it succinctly in a TV interview, saying they came as friends of Rabin and friends of the peace process. But P.L.O. leader Yasser Arafat knows well that being a "friend of the peace process'' is not the same as being a friend of Israel. By all indications, this is a lesson in distinctions we have not yet all learned. GEORGE TOPAS Lakewood, New Jersey

A SHARE OF THE FEES

YOUR BOOK REVIEW OF A CIVIL ACTION BY Jonathan Harr [Books, Oct. 2] incorrectly stated that Trial Lawyers for Public Justice was to receive two-thirds of any settlement recovered in the Woburn, Massachusetts, water-contamination suit against Beatrice Foods and W.R. Grace. That is not the case. As the book accurately reports, the original agreement was that TLPJ would receive two-thirds of the attorneys' fees recovered in the case, not two-thirds of the total settlement or verdict. Moreover, despite our extensive work in the case, as the book noted, TLPJ ultimately received less than 4% of the total settlement amount. ARTHUR BRYANT, Executive Director Trial Lawyers for Public Justice Washington

COWPOKES FROM THE POKEY

I APPLAUD RECREATIONAL AND EDUCAtional opportunities for prison inmates, but the Louisiana State Penitentiary all-inmate rodeo reminds me of the Roman Colosseum games when Christians fought lions and gladiators took on other wild animals [CHRONICLES, Nov. 20]. Since when did inmate fun and games at the expense of animals (and taxpayers) pass for prison reform? Sponsoring animal cruelty and aggressive behavior of maximum-security inmates is a bad idea. Shame on the state of Louisiana, and shame on some 20,000 Louisianans who attended this freak show and even paid for it! ROBERT WATSON Flagstaff, Arizona

HOW NICE THAT CONVICTS ARE BEING encouraged to channel violent and inappropriate behavior toward animals. Animal abuse as therapy? TAM NESBIT Coral Gables, Florida Via E-mail