"Horrific video footage has emerged of Taliban insurgents stoning a couple to death for alleged adultery in northern Afghanistan."

"Hundreds of villagers can be seen on the video standing around as the woman, Siddqa, is buried up to her waist in a four foot hole in the ground. Two mullahs pass sentence before the crowd begins to throw rocks at her head and body as she desperately tries to crawl free...."

News alert from the NYT: When you cheat on your spouse, the spouse especially hates it when you do it in "the marital bed."

Well, all right then. So much for the old "I was trying to save money." Hotels are expensive! You'd think she'd appreciate your economizing, but apparently not. Experts say! I mean, a few divorce lawyers anecdotalize.

"There was a big crowd of people... The Taliban made the women wear black clothes and the men were made to stand."

"The Taliban started throwing stones. We were also asked to throw stones. After a while, the Taliban left. The woman was dead but the man was still alive. Some Taliban then came and shot him three times. The Taliban warned villagers if anyone does anything un-Islamic, this will be their fate."

In Kunduz, Afghanistan.

"The answer is quite simple, it's because I'm a woman, it's because they think they can do anything to women in this country."

The woman is Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani. The country, Iran.

"It's because for them adultery is worse than murder – but not all kinds of adultery: an adulterous man might not even be imprisoned but an adulterous women is the end of the world for them. It's because I'm in a country where its women do not have the right to divorce their husbands and are deprived of their basic rights."...

"When the judge handed down my sentence, I even didn't realise I'm supposed to be stoned to death because I didn't know what 'rajam' means. They asked me to sign my sentence which I did, then I went back to the prison and my cellmates told me that I was going to be stoned to death and I instantly fainted."...

"They wanted to get rid of my lawyer so that they can easily accuse me of whatever they want without having him to speak out. If it was not for his attempts, I would have been stoned to death by now."

"Despite protests from the West, her sentence will be carried out if the judiciary decides to carry it out..."

Iran relents in spite of/because of our objections.

"She will be buried up to her chest, deeper than a man would be..."

"... and the stones that will be hurled at her will be large enough to cause pain but not so large as to kill her immediately..."

Death by stoning in Iran. The crime is adultery. The evidence was a confession obtained after 99 lashes.

"An act of adultery between the defendant and the spouse of the plaintiff..."

"... when the defendant knew or should have known that the plaintiff’s spouse was married shall constitute proof of intentional interference with the plaintiff’s marriage. Damages awarded pursuant to this statute shall not exceed $500,000. This action shall be instituted within two years of the discovery of the adultery."

Maggie Gallagher is inspired by this proposed statute (from Minnesota, oddly enough). But what she really wants is not that you should be able to extract half a million dollars from the person who seduced your husband/wife. She wants a cause of action against websites that facilitate adultery.