Kevin McCarthy was back on MSNBC this morning in a less challenging interview than yesterday's on the network. He talked about the House Republicans' meeting with President Obama Tuesday and why he's not thrilled with the stimulus bill up for a vote soon. Here's a transcript:

MSNBC: The chief deputy Republican whip, and a member of the House Financial Services Committee, congressman, great to see you today.

MCCARTHY: Thanks for having me.

MSNBC: How will you vote?

MCCARTHY: Currently i'm opposed to where the ... bill is. It is not enough stimulus and  does not create jobs. Only 3 percent of it goes to infrastructure. We talk about 70 percent of all jobs  created by small business.  2.7 percent of the tax cuts are created towards small businesses. So we have met with the president. We invited him to come. And we had a great dialogue.

I think that what the president told us, he does not take pride in ownership. Meaning, that he is willing to work with us to improve this  bill. And the more we talk about this bill, the better the bill gets. You will notice that some of the waste has been eliminated from the contraceptives, from the new  grass in Washington. I mean, the wasteful spending needs to move out of it. This $825 billion bill is more  than just that. The CBO nonpartisan organization says it will cost us $347 billion just in interest. $1.1 trillion. We don't need waste. We need new jobs.  

MSNBC: Did the president say anything to you yesterday that  caused you to pause and reconsider?

MCCARTHY: Not to pause and reconsider on the current bill. But the one thing that he did that I was very positive about is that he wanted to work with us like we want to work with him. And he said you come up with better ideas and i'm willing to talk about it. We had a good dialogue. We talked about ways to stimulate the economy. I mean, the nonpartisan congressional budget office said the greatest way to get financial resources into the  economy, into the American hands, is through reduction in tax rates. That's what we have been talking  about.

MSNBC: You feel like the president and House Republicans are willing to have a good working relationship, does that suggest that you think that the House Democrats are not?

MCCARTHY: Well, it is very difficult. We have met with the president more than the speaker has ever met with us. We had more discussion about the legislation before it was on a  stimulus bill with the president the House Democrats had in here.  We believe that not as Republicans or Democrats but should look at this as Americans. And we are in a tough situation and we should come together.  That is why we believe that our speaker, Nancy Pelosi, should not play politics with this.

We should get together and find the best way to help the American family create jobs, focus on the small business, get the money into the economy as fast as you can. The current bill, half of all this money, trillion dollars, doesn't even go into the economy two years from now. That's too long to wait to  create jobs.

MSNBC: Congressman McCarthy, thank you for being with us. We appreciate your time.

MCCARTHY: Thanks for having me.

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Bogus, or no?

Kevin McCarthy's appearance on MSNBC this morning talking stimulus is being mocked by this blogger as  "bogus  economic  talking points."

McCarthy's arguing tax cuts, not sprucing up the National Mall, will stimulate the economy. MSNBC's Norah O'Donnell challenges him on that.

Judge it for yourself.

I'm still hunting for video of the full interview, FYI.

— Government team leader Christine Bedell

Were you or a friend at Barack Obama's inauguration? If so, you're probably able to pick yourself or others out of this photo, which has ridiculously great resolution.

Just had to share.

— Government team leader Christine Bedell

In case you missed it last night, the governor has given former Assemblywoman Nicole Parra a $128,124 job to develop economic development programs in underserved rural and urban areas.

It's a new job, created as California faces a $41 billion budget shortfall.

Here's our story.

The Sacramento Bee fleshes it out even more, saying it and a post with a similar salary given to Republican Greg Aghazarian are the "fourth and fifth six-figure jobs that Schwarzenegger has given to legislators who departed office last year."

Here's the Bee's full story.

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Tucker Porter, a 2006 Bakersfield High School grad, sent us this account of his day in Washington, D.C., Tuesday.

I went to bed last night (Jan. 19th) at 11 p.m. My plans were to wake up and meet my friends at 2:45 a.m. so we could beat the crowds at the security checkpoints, but they decided to reschedule and wake me up with a blaring 1 a.m. phone call.

But this did not anger me because I was extremely excited and willing to get to the Inauguration of Barack Obama as soon as possible. 
 

When we left our hotel, the temperature was 18 degrees. Bundled, drowsy and hardly conscience, we took the subway nearest to the North security checkpoint.  The roads were surprisingly clear and my group of friends and I were among the first at the security checkpoint that would be opening at 7 a.m. The streets were extremely cluttered with police, crowd control and the Secret Service. 
 

Around 3 to 4 a.m., my toes no longer had feeling (with two pairs of thick socks) and my fingers were becoming increasingly more painful, but the excitement of the upcoming events held everyone together. 
 

People bundled together, danced on the streets to keep the blood flowing to their feet and burst out in song such as the National Anthem. It was one of the most amazing and patriotic experiences of my life to see thousands of random people joining together and shouting the nation’s anthem at the top of their lungs even though it was early morning and a balmy 20 degrees. 
 

By 7 a.m. the crowds had grown easily into the tens of thousands, luckily my group and I being toward the front. After being calmly shuffled through security, I found my spot near the Capitol building about half a mile to its northeast.
 

This is when it hit me. 
 

I was at an event I will see in history books to come. I could say I saw the first African-American President of the United States sworn into office. A huge amount of butterflies came over me.
 

People around me were incredibly nice and much more polite and respectful than you would imagine. The President-elect drove by about three hours after getting my spot and I witnessed something I will never forget — his swearing in and the cheers of people surrounding me. 
 

Complete strangers who could not hear the Inauguration huddled around radios and listened intensely. It was a true event I will never forget.

Tucker Porter graduated from Bakersfield High School in 2006 and is now studying astrophysics at the University of Colorado at Boulder.  A year ago he was invited as a national scholar to the University Presidential Inauguration Conference and was joined in Washington, D.C., by other top students invited by the conference.

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Kern County Supervisor Michael Rubio got pretty darn close to the action Tuesday morning — as evidenced by these photos sent from his Blackberry.

I'm not getting any messages back from his blackberry, so I'll have to ask him later when he got up to get in line so he was there for the speech.

I heard people with tickets for the "purple" section between the Capitol and the reflecting pool got there at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday morning and couldn't make it inside.

So what did everybody think of Barack Obama's inaugural speech? Were you moved or not so much? Anything in particular you'll remember?

By the way, here's the text.

UPDATE: There are some great critiques on the New York Times Web site.

We'd love to catch the sights and sounds Tuesday of locals watching Barack Obama's inauguration.

We know there are showings at the Fox, Cal State and the BHS auditorium. Anybody know of other watching parties, even at homes, schools, bars or churches?

We'd love to capture those kinds of celebrations, too.  Let us know either here on the blog , by e-mail at cbedell@bakersfield.com or by calling 395-7417.

Thanks much.

— Government team leader Christine Bedell

Congressman Kevin McCarthy was sworn in for a second term representing much of Kern County and in a You Tube video urged constituents to send him ideas for tackling the country's many problems.

Got some ideas? Send 'em here, too.

Here's the text of McCarthy's message if video's not your thing:

 
“Hi, I'm Congressman Kevin McCarthy, and am honored to continue to work as your Representative in Congress. 
 
“Today, in the wake of widening problems we face daily, I am glad you took a few moments to listen to this YouTube message.
 
“As many of you might know, today is the start of the 111th Congress.
 
“As middle class Americans, we understand the current struggles as our saving accounts decline and as we worry about the prospect of our future.
 
“But when we sit at the kitchen table, we don't make excuses because we work for common-sense solutions to make ends meet. Washington should do the same.
 
“As we know, the best ideas are not in Washington. That is why over the next Congress, I plan to continue to reach out to listen to your thoughts and ideas. As easy as clicking a mouse, you can go to my website and email me your ideas and aspirations for the future. I also plan to continue to hold tele town hall meetings to listen to all your thoughts. 
 
“Together we can work to overcome our mounting challenges -- from restoring our economy to building a foundation for our sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters, to inherit a stronger America.
 
“We need to look forward, not backward. Let's talk about the future. Please join me in this effort.
 
“I look forward to hearing from you soon.”

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Former Assemblywoman Nicole Parra got a new job for Christmas — the offer came Christmas Eve, she said Tuesday.

But she wouldn't reveal what that job is just yet, only that it's exactly what she was looking for. She promised more details later.

Several weeks ago Parra said she was looking for government-relations type work, lobbying or overseeing a group of lobbyists.

As a result, Parra also said Tuesday, she will close her 2010 state Senate campaign finance committee.

Others interested in the job, now held by Dean Florez, D-Shafter, include Kern County Supervisor Michael Rubio and former Assemblywoman Sarah Reyes of Fresno, both Democrats.

Parra, D-Hanford, was termed out of her 30th Assembly District seat last year.