Stimulus package or Christmas present?

The House passed the "Stimulus Package" last week with lots of reports about the fact that every Republican voted against it. I was surprised to find this quote in the New York Times:

All but 11 Democrats voted for the plan, and 177 Republicans voted against
it. The 244-to-188 vote came a day after Mr. Obama traveled to Capitol Hill to
seek Republican backing, if not for the package then on other issues to
come.

I am surprised to see that 11 Democrats broke ranks with Speaker Pelosi and President Obama. I am more surprised that there was not more reporting about this, but then again - you can not expect much more from the mainstream media at this point.

This "Stimulus Package" looks to me to be a Christmas Present to the Democrats who could not get funding for much of these issues during the Bush years and they are now piling them on at the first chance they can get. I understand that is how politics work, and this is exactly why I was afraid of one party having total control. But at the same time, don't sell this package as "Stimulus" and necessary to save the economy. On January 30th CBS News ran a story detailing why Republicans are against this bill. I was shocked when I read:

But emergency bills aren't paid for with higher taxes or budget cuts - the
stimulus is all borrowed money. And so anything Congress couldn't afford before
-- $50 million to support the arts, $70 million to help people stop smoking --
has found its way into the stimulus now.

And according to an article at cnn.com:

Much of the $550 billion in spending is divided among these areas: $142
billion for education, $111 billion for health care, $90 billion for
infrastructure, $72 billion for aid and benefits, $54 billion for energy, $16
billion for science and technology, and $13 billion for housing.

I am all for spending more on education and health care. But how is that going to stimulate the economy now? It certainly isn't going to help me today, tomorrow or next month. It wont help my husband's company find more work because it isn't going to help potential customers feel they can remodel their homes. So please, Congress, call it what it is. A pork laden belated Christmas present delivering money for every pet project you could find, borrowing money to pay for it. But wait, isn't that what caused the housing collapse? Borrowing money to buy things you can not afford...