Chaffetz removes Issa portrait and signals new direction for high-profile, hard hitting Oversight panel

Utah GOP Rep. Jason Chaffetz, the new House Oversight Committee chairman, is explaining his decision to remove the portrait of preceding GOP chairman Rep. Darrell Issa from the panel’s hearing room.

Chaffetz said Thursday the move was not personal but suggested it was indeed ideological.

“I really felt strongly that in that committee room we should be inspired by those we serve, not inspired by past committee chairmen,” he said.

Chaffetz has indicated that he will focus more on government reform and committee reports than political scandal and seek fewer headlines.

“Issa didn’t do many reports,” he recently told Roll Call newspaper. He did “big press releases.”

While Issa surrounded his investigations and hearings with political drama and theatrics, his approach brought and sustained national attention to such issues as the Benghazi scandal as well as Fast & Furious, the federal government’s botched gun-tracking program.

Chaffetz will replace the Issa portrait, hung just last month, with photos of American history and life that the committee oversees, including the U.S. postal service, coal mining and civil rights.

Issa’s portrait was reportedly removed with those of other former committee chairmen and will be relocated to a meeting room.

Chaffetz said he first informed Issa and Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the committee’s top Democrat, of his decision.

He said Issa told him: “You’re the new chairman. You can do it as you want.’ He was actually very nice about it.”

Chaffetz is also replacing more than half of the committee’s 60-member staff for the 114th Congress, a move, along with removing the portraits, that has reportedly upset some Issa loyalists.

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Chaffetz removes Issa portrait and signals new direction for high-profile, hard hitting Oversight panel

Prince removes himself from social media

Prince

The Little Red Corvette hitmaker has deleted his Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook accounts and removed his work from YouTube and Soundcloud just a year after joining the social networking websites.

However, his two latest albums, Art Official Age and Plectrum Electrum, remain available to stream on Spotify, and his official YouTube channel still features three videos, one of an old interview and two clips of the track Breakfast Can Wait.

He hasn’t given an explanation behind the abrupt move, which comes just over a month after he took part in a fan question-and-answer session on his Facebook page.

After being inundated with messages, he opted to answer just one question about sound frequencies by submitting a link to a lengthy article on the subject.

In 2010, the 56-year-old star declared, “the Internet is completely over,” and he once threatened to sue YouTube, along with eBay and torrent sites for illegally distributing his music.

At the beginning of the year, Prince abandoned plans to sue 22 alleged bootleggers for $1 million each after accusing them of posting footage of his concerts online.

The proposed legal action caused controversy because some of the sites named in the suit were fan sites, causing fury among his devoted supporters.

One forum user wrote at the time: “Yes, bootlegging is wrong, but … who is next? Dude will even go after regular ass fans … really sad. Prince will be remembered for making some of the most beautiful music ever created and for hating his fans.”

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Prince removes himself from social media

AM Best removes ratings of Sagicor companies from under review

Business

Friday, August 16, 2013

INSURANCE ratings agency AM Best removed Sagicor’s affiliates from “under review with negative implications” and affirmed their financial strength and issuer credit ratings.Sagicor Life Insurance in the US as well as Sagicor General Insurance, Sagicor Life Inc and Sagicor Capital Life Insurance in Barbados were all affirmed as excellent, while Sagicor Life Jamaica was affirmed as having good ratings.All, except for the US operations, received a stable outlook for the ratings. The Texas-based operations’ ratings were assigned a negative outlook.“Concurrently, AM Best has removed from under review with negative implications and affirmed the ICR of “bbb-” and the debt rating of “bbb” on US$150 million, 7.5 per cent senior unsecured notes, due 2016 of the ultimate parent, Sagicor Financial Corporation,” said a press statement issued by the ratings agency on Wednesday. “The outlook assigned to these ratings is stable.”AM Best said that the rating affirmations reflect the organisation’s continued satisfactory capitalisation, consistent earnings in its life insurance segments and favourable operating results.The ratings were placed under review following the National Debt Exchange (NDX) in Jamaica, which was the second debt exchange in three years.“Although SFC continues to have significant business and financial exposure to the Jamaican economy through its controlling interest in SLJ, AM Best believes the exposure is somewhat mitigated by the sustained favourable performance of SFC’s Jamaican operations and the somewhat stabilised financial condition in Jamaica,” said the release. “Supported by profitable operations, SFC’s risk-adjusted capitalisation remains adequate, including its business risk exposures in its Jamaican operations.”The negative outlook for Sagicor Life USA is due to consistent statutory operating losses on both the life and annuity lines of business, although the losses have been consistently declining as the new business stabilises. AM Best was also concerned about the lack of diversification of the company’s business profile.“While the company maintains an adequate level of risk-adjusted capital, this is the result of parental support rather than organic growth,” said AM Best. “Moreover, AM Best notes that its capital structure contains a large portion of surplus notes to its parent.”The ratings agency said that a decline in SFC’s earnings and capital further deterioration in Jamaica (given the region’s continued elevated sovereign risk) or deterioration in the financial position of SFC could lead to a negative rating action on Sagicor.

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AM Best removes ratings of Sagicor companies from under review