Composite Article
Subject:  Government Fraud & Abuse

The balance of this composite article consists of two parts.  First, we present in full the World Net Daily article that just glosses over the research and is, basically, nothing but a reprint from a variety of other print and online resources.  Second, after substantial research into the issue, we present an in-depth analysis of "Who is Michael Clatts", a subject that is both complex and mystifying. 

In the recent article on WND, author Chelsea Schilling, quoted below, reveals shocking trends in government waste; however, Schilling's work was merely repetitive of others who had reported on this story emerging from Viet Nam where taxpayer funds in excess of $3 million have been spent on worthless "research" into the sex lives of male prostitutes. Plus, it appears that Schilling missed the fact that some of this dribble, paid for by taxpayers, has resulted in the "researchers" being able to hire publishers of who, in turn, converted what should have been public domain material into copyrighted material.

What was missed by Schilling, and others, also, is that this fraudulent research has been going on for years - all at taxpayer expense - and that the only possible benefit of this funding mania in Washington, DC is transfer of American taxpayers' wealth to zealots performing meaningless interviews with queer hookers in Hanoi and Saigon (so-called Ho Chi Minh City).

Beginning at least as early as 2007, the National Institute of Health (NIH) began funding this hoax and has obligated itself until at least 2013 to pay overall approximately $3 million.  It turns out, that Clatts, the project leader, is a former lead employee of the department in NIH that is funding these ridiculous, costly porkbarrel grants.  Are there any kickbacks being paid to NIH's current administrator's in this Keystone Cop's, zany yet wasteful morass of meaningless paper-writing?  Perhaps no one will ever know, but the inter-connecting links of bomb-making, swastika-painting, synagogue defacing, illegal arms possession, government corruption and power-brokering by a former government official deserve as close a scrutiny as can be mustered.

About the NIH Grant to Michael Clatts

Americans struggling to find jobs and pay income taxes take heart: More than a million dollars in U.S. federal funds will be used to examine homosexual male prostitutes in Vietnam.

The National Institutes of Health, or NIH, has awarded $1.44 million for a "study of drug and sexual risk among young male sex workers Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam."

"There are an estimated 8.3 million individuals with HIV infections in Asia, one-fifth the disease burden worldwide," the project abstract states. "Initially thought to be confined to circumspect populations of male IDUs [injection drug users] and female sex workers, it is now clear that men who have sex with men are also at high risk."

Along with rapid increases in cases of HIV and sexually transmitted infections among young men in the region, the abstract states that there's also been an "expansion of markets for male sex work and international male sex tourism." Many of the male prostitutes also have female partners.

NIH says the first study will "describe the settings, venues, and overall social milieu in which male sex work is being situated."

The second study will conduct a survey to "estimate the size of the male sex worker population in each city."

The third study will be a broad cross-sectional study to construct a "comprehensive ethno-epidemiological profile of behavioral HIV risk among male sex workers."

Study 4 will assess negative medical consequences in the population and screen for the presence of HIV and sexually transmitted infections.

"In Study 5, we will recruit young men who have recently initiated male sex work for participation in a one year series of ethnographic interviews to describe the unique vulnerabilities associated with the early course of male sex work," the abstract states.

Study 6 will use data from earlier studies to assess the impact of behavioral risk among male sex workers on the diffusion of HIV-1 in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Under a section titled "Public Health Relevance," the NIH explains why the project is needed:

This study seeks to address an important public health question: what is the impact of male sex work on the growing HIV epidemics in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam? HIV rates in Vietnam are rapidly increasing, and yet there are limited data on the role that different populations play in this increase. Existing data are based on the assumption that HIV is found primarily in injection drug users and female sex workers, with only recent attention being paid to men who have sex with men. … Through comprehensive behavioral interviews, detailed ethnography, and state-of-the art biological tests (including tests for HIV and HCV subtypes and HIV treatment resistance), we will describe the demographic, social, and economic characteristics of the male sex worker population in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, as well as the unique vulnerabilities associated with the onset and early social course of male sex work. …

The National Institute on Drug Abuse, NIDA, a component of NIH, is listed as the funding entity, and the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine is the grant recipient. According to the NIDA website, the institute supports more than 85 percent of the world's research on drug abuse and addiction.

It receives its funding through congressional appropriations, and NIDA is also authorized to accept donations.

The following are recent award amounts for the Vietnam study:

    * Fiscal year 2010: $442,340

    * Fiscal year 2009: $465,974

    * Fiscal year 2008: $534,201

A total of $1,442,515 in federal funds has been awarded to the project.

About Michael Clatts:

According to a New York Sun article, Michael Clatts was involved in January, 2008 with a pipe-bomb incident, although his participation was never thoroughly investigated.

Police were sent to investigate Clatts' Brooklyn Heights apartment after Ivanov Ivaylo, Clatts' roommate (shown to the left after his arrest), was admitted to Long Island College Hospital  early that Sunday morning with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the hand.  Upon investigation, police discovered a cache of weapons in the apartment, which Clatts owns.

Neighbor Penny Kaufman said police knocked on her door at 3:20 a.m., mistaking it for Clatts' and Ivaylo's.  She then accompanied them to the correct apartment.  Police did not name Clatts as a suspect in their investigation.

A medical anthropologist known for his extensive AIDS research, Clatts then worked as principal investigator at the National Development and Research Institutes and is a professor at the Universidad de Puerto Rico.  He is also listed as an associate professor in the Department of Sociomedical Sciences at the Mailman School of Public Health on both the Mailman School Web site and in his National Development and Research Institute profile.

But Senior Director of Communications Randee Sacks Levine said in a statement that Clatts is not a University employee, nor on the University payroll.

"He does not teach nor is he involved in projects through the Mailman School," Levine wrote in the statement."  He is among a large number of individuals who are employed elsewhere in the New York metropolitan area but have a voluntary affiliation, without an office or reimbursement, because of the relevant public health research conducted by him and his employer."

Originally from Bulgaria, Ivaylo had lived with Clatts since 2000.

"Ivo seemed like a party kid, himself. ... kind of a punky kid, very pleasant.  We shared a love of animals.He never worked, from what I could tell," Kaufman said.

Clatts, she said, kept to himself and spent much of his time traveling for work.  As early as 2007, he was leading a study on HIV risk in Vietnam.

News reports at the time indicated that Clatts could not be reached for comment, and was said to be out of the country - presumably in Viet Nam.


Bomb-Maker Unveiled as Hatemonger by Brooklyn Cops

Source:  New York Daily News, January 22, 2008

A bizarre Brooklyn bomb-maker was unveiled as a hatemonger Monday and charged with a spate of crimes that shook his neighborhood's Jewish community last fall, cops said.

Investigators were questioning Ivaylo Ivanov about seven pipe bombs they found in a flat he shares with a noted Columbia professor when he confessed to spray-painting 23 swastikas on synagogues, private homes and schools in September, a police source said.

"We're very relieved and thankful that the man was found," said Rabbi Aaron Ruskin, whose synagogue, the Congregation B'Nai Avraham, was vandalized. "There's no question that this guy could have done a lot worse."

Ivanov bizarrely claimed that he fashioned the bombs to use while fishing, a source told the Daily News.

Cops are conducting forensic tests on his computer to make sure more sinister plans, like a possible attack on a synagogue, are not buried inside after Ivanov admitted scattering hateful flyers that screamed "Israel Land of Pigs" and "All Jews Die," the source said.

When investigators asked Ivanov why he drew the swastikas and created the flyers he said it was "bad judgment on his part," a police source said. Ivanov's attorney, Adrian Lesher, said last night his client claims to be Jewish.

The source said Ivanov was the prime suspect in the swastika case and that cops previously interviewed him at his Brooklyn Heights home about his interest in playing paintball. They did not see bomb-making equipment or guns at that time, the source said.

Cops found the seven live pipe bombs, bomb-making machinery and a trove of weapons - including a pistol, shotgun, crossbow and bulletproof vest - at his Remsen St. flat early Sunday.

Ivanov sought help from cops after he shot off his left index finger, police said. He lives with Columbia Prof. Michael Clatts, who specializes in the spread of infectious disease and was a prominent AIDS researcher in the 1980s. Investigators did not believe the 50-year-old was aware of the arsenal because he was away.

Penny Kauffman, who has lived in the building for 29 years, said Ivanov had a surveillance camera trained on the hallway outside his unit.

"He told me he was sick of all the Arabs coming in and out of the building," she said.

Ivanov rambled to cops that he was trained by the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad, and was also a trained sniper, a police source said.

"It is not that hard to make these kind of homemade bombs. He is hardly an expert at explosives," the source said.

Clatts' father, Russ Clatts, said he was unaware of his son's whereabouts.

"All I know is what I read on the Internet, I haven't spoken to my son in years," he said at his home in Rehoboth Beach, Del. "I don't know who he lives with or what he does."

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said cops were still investigating why Ivanov had the pipe bombs.

Bowing his head as he was led shackled out of the 84th Precinct stationhouse yesterday, Ivanov said he possessed the weapons for "self-defense."

Ivanov, charged with criminal possession of a weapon and 46 counts of hate crimes, was arraigned last night in Brooklyn Supreme Court. He was held on $300,000 bail. His next court date is set for Friday.

Cops said it was not clear if Ivanov was 31 or 37 years old. He was born in Sicily and raised in Bulgaria.

Cops said they confiscated the bomb-making equipment, including a drill and threading machine, from the home.

"I heard lots of drilling, lots of drilling," neighbor Roberta Weisbrod said. "And it wasn't the kind of drilling to put up a picture."
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Some of the sources for this composite article are:

- Chelsea Schilling © 2010 WorldNetDaily
- New York Daily News