TIM GEITHNER will have to make all the right moves.

THE POWER TO TAX IS THE POWER TO DESTROY. And it’s being wielded out of a mixture of fear, pique, and political opportunism.

CLAUDIA ROSETT: Million Dollar Bonu$e$ at Fannie Mae. Plus, Franklin Raines’ raincoat.

TAXPROF: Guidance on New Tax Credits for Home Buying/Home Improvements.

CHRIS DODD UPDATE: Report Details Countrywide’s Efforts to Benefit VIPs.

NATIONAL LAW JOURNAL: Bias on judges at the ABA.

TYLER COWEN ON how to help the poor.

THE GEITHNER SYNDROME: 13 firms receiving bailouts owe back taxes.

CALLS FOR AN INVESTIGATION ON A.I.G.’s political contributions. “Some of the donations to lawmakers include Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), $103,100;then-Senator, now President Barack Obama(D-Ill.), $101,332; then-Senator, now Vice President Joe Biden (D-Del.), $19,975; Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), $59,499; former Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), $35,965; Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), $11,000; and Sen. Max Baucus, (D-MT), $24,750.”

BILL TO REQUIRE DEATH CERTIFICATES FOR ABORTIONS fails.

SOUTH PARK in the age of Obama.

MOSCOW STARTS TO SHUT UP SHOP: Soaring unemployment and a shrinking economy point to long winters of discontent.

GOOD NEWS: Space tourism to take flight in 2012. ” Short tourist flights into space are expected to begin launching from northern Sweden in 2012, one of the companies involved in the project said Wednesday.” Hope it pans out.

DUKE COACH TO OBAMA: Focus on the economy, please. Forget the Final Four.

HARTFORD COURANT: Dodd Admits Role In AIG Bonus Controversy.

IN THE MAIL: From David Thomson, Law School 2.0: Legal Education for a Digital Age.

WORKING FOR eminent domain reform in Alabama.

JEFFREY ROSEN: Genetic Surveillance For All? “The legal limits on family searches and DNA databases are murky, but the political implications are explosive for one big reason in particular: race. African-Americans, by several estimates, represent about 13 percent of the U.S. population but 40 percent of the people convicted of felonies every year. The CODIS database of 6.6 million now includes samples from convicted offenders. As arrestees are added to this mix, CODIS may soon grow to 50 million samples, which might be even more disproportionately African-American. Hank Greely of Stanford Law School has estimated that 17 percent of African-American citizens could be identified through familial searches, as opposed to only 4 percent of the Caucasian population.”

It’s for the children!

THE QUESTION: What Did Geithner Not Know And When Did He Not Know It? Plus, “Heckuva Job, Timmy!”

ECONOMIC GOOD NEWS! Gun sales really are up.

NATASHA RICHARDSON has died.

JOHN MURTHA RESPONDS TO CHARGES OF EARMARK CORRUPTION:

U.S. Rep. John Murtha, D-Johnstown, responded by waving the Constitution at the camera, saying: “What it says is the Congress of the United States appropriates the money. Got that?”

Got it.

A POSSE COMITATUS ACT ISSUE? Army Investigating How and Why Troops Were Sent Into Alabama Town After Murder Spree. “The U.S. Army has launched an inquiry into how and why active duty troops from Fort Rucker, Ala., came to be placed on the streets of Samson, Ala., during last week’s murder spree in that tiny South Alabama community. The use of the troops was a possible violation of federal law.”

FANNIE MAE BONUSES: “I wonder what Barney Frank has to say about this?”

BYRON YORK: Candidate Obama vs. President Obama.