• Global file usage

Well, they'll stone ya when you're trying to be so good
They'll stone ya just a-like they said they would
They'll stone ya when you're tryin' to go home
Then they'll stone ya when you're there all alone
But I would not feel so all alone
Everybody must get stoned

Brazil has offered asylum to Sakineh Ashtiani, an Iranian woman who was convicted of adultery in 2006 and sentenced to death by stoning. A few weeks ago, the sentence was "temporarily halted" by Iranian officials, but Ashtiani still faces the death penalty. When stonings happen, how do they work?

First, you get buried. Iran's Islamic Penal Code states that men convicted of adultery are to be buried in the ground up to their waists; women, up to their chests. If the conviction is based on the prisoner's confession, the law says, the presiding judge casts the first stone. If the conviction is based on witness testimony, the witnesses throw the first stones, then the judge, then everyone else--generally other court officials and security forces. Stones must be of medium size, according to the penal code: Not so big that one or two could kill the person, but not so small that you would call it a pebble. In other words, about the size of a tangerine. The whole process takes less than an hour.

One possible upside of getting stoned is that people who manage to escape from the hole are allowed to go free. But this applies only to those who have confessed to their crimes. (If you were sentenced to stoning on the basis of witness testimony, then digging out of the hole does you no good.) In any case, it's very difficult for anyone to escape the punishment: Prisoners are wrapped in a white cloth sack with their hands tied.

Stonings in Iran used to be public. Between 1983 and about 2000, anyone could attend and throw rocks. After that, public outcry against the practice grew, and stonings began to be carried out in private, often at a cemetery. ..

Iranian law spells out three ways an alleged adulterer can be sentenced to stoning: The defendant confesses, witnesses testify to the defendant's guilt, or the judge convicts the defendant based on his own "knowledge." (This last one is just as arbitrary as it sounds.) When it comes to witnesses, one isn't enough: A court needs four men to testify, or three men and two women. If two men and four women testify, the alleged adulterer can only be sentenced to flogging

http://www.slate.com/id/2262540/

NO WONDER THE SENATE IS SO AFRAID OF IRANIANS. My god with all the adulterating going on in Congress, stones would be in short supply if we adopted the Iranian legal system. (Hey I think I just found another good argument against the adulteration of the 14th Amendment proposed by the repubs.)

Human cultures contain a type of logic; the rules appear to achieve some sort of  logical cohesion even though they may seem barbaric.

I mean stoning seems rather barbaric. But my reaction is determined by my cultural upbringing.

After all, we throw tens of thousands of our citizens into holes after determining that they shall not see the light of day for decades.  Thousands are beaten senselessly by rival gangs within the prisons when not suffering from cost cutting measures instituted by independent contractors.

When you think about it, a system of stoning would save the public an awful lot of money and kind of help our prisoners 'get over it' in short time.  I mean, within an hour, your punishment is over.

And if the judge and the witnesses have optical problems, you might get by with a little bit of luck.

I was taken by the fact that the male and female adulterers are punished in the same basic manner.  They bury you in a hole up to your chest so that your experience as a target is somewhat diminished. There is less to throw at so to speak.

But what about this from Sarah Palin's Facebook page:

Excessive use of religious prophesy or imagery. "The ones I feel for is one day those in the media that are doing the way they are will come down .you are a threat to them and their evil ways. David only needed 5 stones to bring down the giant. and i belive those five stones had on them five letters JESUS. The road may get hard but one day you will know God gave you that to walk."

Political strategists say that it's often hard to talk long-shot candidates out of running for office because they have so many friends and hangers-on telling them they deserve to be president. If that's true, then there's no political strategist alive who could persuade Sarah Palin not to run for president. She has 2 million Facebook friends telling her otherwise.

http://www.slate.com/id/2262544/

Far be it from me as far as reading what is in fact in other people's hearts, but I do believe Palin's followers are on the side of the stone throwers.

Well, they'll stone ya when you're trying to be so good
They'll stone ya just a-like they said they would
They'll stone ya when you're tryin' to go home
Then they'll stone ya when you're there all alone
But I would not feel so all alone
Everybody must get stoned

Well, they'll stone ya when you're walkin' 'long the street
They'll stone ya when you're tryin' to keep your seat
They'll stone ya when you're walkin' on the floor
They'll stone ya when you're walkin' to the door
But I would not feel so all alone
Everybody must get stoned

They'll stone ya when you're at the breakfast table
They'll stone ya when you are young and able
They'll stone ya when you're tryin' to make a buck
They'll stone ya and then they'll say, "good luck"
Tell ya what, I would not feel so all alone
Everybody must get stoned

Well, they'll stone you and say that it's the end
Then they'll stone you and then they'll come back again
They'll stone you when you're riding in your car
They'll stone you when you're playing your guitar
Yes, but I would not feel so all alone
Everybody must get stoned

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koqK7KXt-fU