Marcus Leach

Six years later, we still don’t know. I guess it’s just a trick question, some sort of mystery, or just a sickening legal loophole.

Who remembers this? This was the multibillion dollar dilemma after Hurricane Katrina. USAA didn’t pay because according to them, “your home policy doesn’t cover damage caused by flooding.” Meanwhile, State Farm denied your claim because according to them, “your flood policy doesn’t cover damage caused by wind, which technically came before Katrina’s water.” In the aftermath of this hellish tug-o-war, there was no shortage of politicians promising insurance reforms. Dozens of wide-eyed ‘06 midterm election candidates pimped Katrina’s pain with promises of change for votes. Well, lucky for them, 2006 was a great red herring (H1N1 spreads across the globe, North Korea got nukes, Italy stole the World Cup, and Saddam was hung)… we forgot to hold them accountable.

Six years, and more than 46.7 million dollars in political contributions from insurance companies later, Congress still hasn’t fixed anything. No legislation, no amendments, not even a simple floor speech. In fact, Congress just reauthorized the federal flood insurance program with no mention of wind damage. I wonder if they know the Mississippi river is currently flooding and Hurricane season just started…

Father's Day, the First Day of Summer, and the 4th of July are all around the corner and many of us will be hosting business clients and their families. The next thirty-five days are opportune for business development, so if you're not planning a barbeque then you're probably not prepared to close (just kidding). If your client or SOI is too busy to join you, homemade BBQ sauce in a Mason jar makes a wonderful gift during summer months (just flip over a business card, write a word or two and then tape it to the jar).

I have posted my personal barbeque sauce recipe below. But don't worry, I won't claim it to be the procuring cause of your client's business. This recipe comes from my upbringing in the BBQ Capital of the World... Kansas City! Its concept is based off the Gates family sauce recipe. For the meat, I'd highly recommend smoking pork baby back ribs, but with this sauce it really doesn't matter; you could brush it on canned Vienna sausages and folks would ask for second servings.

1-3/4 cups apple cider vinegar, 1/4 cup of white wine vinegar (if not available, substitute w/ ACV), 2 quarts ketchup (Hunt's), 1-1/2 teaspoons of liquid smoke (hickory), 1 teaspoon lemon juice, 1-1/4 cups brown sugar, 1/4 cup salt, 2 tablespoons celery seeds, 2 tablespoons ground cumin, 2 tablespoons ground red pepper, 2 tablespoons garlic powder, 1 tablespoon chili powder, 1/2 tablespoon ground black pepper.

Combine the sugar, salt, celery seeds, cumin, red pepper, garlic powder, black pepper and chili powder in a small bowl. Mix the ketchup and remaining ingredients in a large bowl, then stir in the dry ingredients. Transfer to large pan and bring to simmer over medium-low heat for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, cover to cool and then funnel into Mason jars.

Enjoy. If you have other recipes you'd like to share or photos of your meals with the sauce, I'd love to see them – marcusleach@gmail.com.