With the news that La Jolla, California is opening up a $593,000 restroom, the semi-literate knee jerk reactionaries are out in full force:

"$593,000??!?!?!!?!?! For a bathroom with less than 10 stalls?!?!!?!?!?! Holy shiat! I'm going to have to pee in there this weekend. I thought that our city finances were going down the crapper, but this is ridiculous."

"HAH. way to spend tax dollars idiots. especially with all the scandal with the mayor and budgets, etc. i love sd, but it needs to get its house in order.."

"For $593,000 the gold plated toilets better wipe my ass for me."

Stories like this occur time and time again. And every time they do, the internet and the late night talk shows release a flow of outraged taxpayers and outragous puns, reflecting the fact that people are furious that so much money goes into places where -- god forbid -- people take shits.

I don't know how much a restroom costs, or how much a restroom should cost. What I do know is that people automatically react to any restroom price tag with scorn and derision. This, PoopReporters, shows exactly how repressed pooping is in our society: that the thought of spending money on public conveniences is inevitably a source of controversy. We should be celebrating public conveniences, and demanding more. But elected officials aren't going to be so keen to build them if the masses start sniping every time a new one is opened.