Cybersnub from JBlog

Huh? Some nameless right-on blogsters from the Jewish cyber-mafi have tossed Izzy Bee out of their cozy cyber ghetto with no explanation.
I have not felt this shunned since some mean high school kids kept me out of their waspy social club. For several months my blog has appeared through an automatic feed on the israelforum,
along with some 445 others. Readers can rate any posts as they come in.
As a neophyte, Izzy Bee was curious to see public reaction to what I observe and interpret around me in the Holy Land. Many of these Israel Forum bloggers seem to be outsiders looking in or aggregating posts from conservative websites, but there also was original and innovative content. I even nominated myself for their annual competition, in hopes of reaching out to new readers and seeing from inside how it all works. I wanted to take part in a wide-ranging collective that included funny, self-deprecating, bright weblogs and some with an odd sideways takes on Jewish or Israeli lifestyles and politics.
Other intriguing ones were recipe recyclers, gay jokesters, black hat philosophers, savvy housewives or rightwing nut jobs. Check out this cross-section of blog titles, for an idea. Definitely not bog-standard:

Joe Settler, Yid with a Lid, Bagel Blogger --the Ozraeli perspective, Jacob da Jew, Jerusalem Cop, Jew-ish, J-spot, Rabbi without a Cause,The velveteen Rabbi, me-ander, Frumkenstein, Jewdicial, Jewcy

You get the picture. Punning Pundits.

Surely there would be room for the musings of a lapsed Baptist ex-journalist who is coming to grips with a peripatetic life in a Bible setting, with all its incongruous high tech surveillance, jaded ex-idealists, youthful energy and ancient feuds. I have a front row seat for the apocalypse, whether it's nuclear or the second coming. And I love Jerusalem's assortment of sabras and Christian evangelicals, kibbutzniks and settlers, Zionists and NGO workers. This is quite a diverse place, once described to me as a game reserve for bigots, but really so much more complex.

Apparently Israelity Bites does not fit in so well. All my initial posts were rated 2 by JBlog, ie POOR. (I figured maybe it was a machine that ranked me so low, but it rankled.) I also noticed that a couple of dozen JBlogsters rated me, but nobody ever bothered to link to my actual page so they could read my entire post beforehand. That's why I switched my settings so the whole post would automatically pop up on JBlog. This improved things immensely: the site upgraded the ratings to 4, or GOOD. Then, it all vanished, POOF. Dunno why. There was a British cartoon mocking Tony Blair, as Terminator. He'd just met with California's Arnold Schwarzenegger, and I mused that consulting a governor who could win over Israeli politicians despite having a Nazi father might be helpful for someone taking up the troublesome post of MidEast envoy. Was this found offensive? I emailed the webmaster, but was not enlightened. Silence.
The israelforum FAQ s state:

we include most blogs that are Jewish-oriented or pro-Israeli in the conventional sense. We try to avoid blogs that promote hate, illegal activities, adult content, etc. We rely on our readers to report content that is clearly inappropriate, but we cannot promise that we can act on those reports as quick ly as some readers would like. We reserve the right to include or exclude any specific blog at our sole discretion.

Hmmmm. Being perceived as "pro-Israeli in the conventional sense" may be the stumbling block. Does that mean no criticism, even if it's bemused? No talk of Gaza or Palestinian policy? No mention of Assraelis, the so-called Kosher Porn produced in-country? Izzy Bee is stung at this exclusion.

Kosher Porn from LA?

When "Tight Fit" productions, an outfit run by pornographer Oren Cohen from the sleazier side of Tinseltown in Van Nuys, advertised their skinflick as "K-rated" rather than the more usual X-rated, a righteous row resulted.
"Assraelis", their dubious new blue DVD, recently was shot in Galilee and Tel Aviv and edited in LA, though presumably never on a Saturday. Cohen's controversial gimmick was stamping his porn wrapper with a familiar emblem, one that assures American customers that, for instance, their Hebrew National frankfurters pass Rabbinical inspection. The resulting storm of publicity over what purports to be a 100 per cent Israeli porn production was just what the expat Cohen had banked on. His lawyers argue that no firm can own the Hebrew letter for K, but he is not exactly on firm ground with Kof-K, a New Jersey-based Kosher Supervisory board who monitor this trusted stamp. Their ire has not stopped musicicians from riffing on the beef frank for a Kosher Classics album (see photo above).
Even after Cohen removed the fake kosher stamp, the third generation pornographer now is likely to face more lawsuits in the Holy Land. The screen names of all his porn stars are takeoffs on famous Israeli singers and actors. Oy veh.