Love and piece

We find out today that Miami Herald reporter Oscar Corral was arrested on Friday on charges that he solicited prostitution.

A Miami Herald reporter was arrested late Friday on charges that he solicited a prostitute in Miami, police said.

Oscar Corral, 32, a veteran Metro reporter for the newspaper, was one of 13 people busted in a prostitution operation in the Flagami neighborhood shortly before midnight, Sgt. Albert Pacheco said.

Corral, who covers Miami's Cuban community, was arrested and issued a notice to appear in court. He was charged with soliciting to commit prostitution, a second-degree misdemeanor.

''I'm innocent,'' Corral said Monday. ``I look forward to having my name cleared in court.''

It's never a good sign when people in tough situations are so eager to clear their names. Usually, innocent people are pissed as shit, and "look forward" to suing the police department for wrongful arrest.

The extremist, right-wing Cuban-American bloggers, who despise Corral because he doesn't start every article with a fervent death wish for Castro, are having a field day. One particular blog, written by an especially submental, vulgarian fuckball, muses on the possibility that it may have been a male prostitute, as though that somehow makes matters worse.

Corral is in an indefensible situation, not because of the crime itself, but because he's got a family, and partly because we just don't know all the facts. Even his usual supporters--myself included--have offered no defense.

I don't know that this changes the way I feel about the guy. I still think he's a fine reporter. I wouldn't want to get arrested for all the dumb shit I've done. In a perfect world, critics of the guy would recognize that universal feeling and take it easy on him, but that's not going to happen.