glennbeck.com 
 
 Conservative Fox News television host, author, and radio host Glenn Beck has started a university. 
 
 Sort of. 
 
 According to an announcement on Beck's Web site, "Beck University is a unique academic experience bringing together experts in the fields of religion, American history and economics." In July, August and September, interested parties can participate in "captivating lectures and interactive online discussions" in which "experts will explore the concepts of Faith, Hope and Charity and show you how they influence America's past, her present and most importantly her future." 
 
 At left is the actual insignia of Beck University. (Note the buffalo, feather and Latin words.) To be clear, calling it a university is more than a stretch: It is actually simply an opportunity to watch online classes taught by three men, among them the controversial David Barton. 
 
 Barton is described on Beck's site as "the founder and president of WallBuilders, a national pro-family organization that presents America's forgotten history and heroes, with an emphasis on our moral, religious, and constitutional heritage." He is an evangelical minister and GOP political activist who has pushed hard against the separation of church and state and been embraced by conservative Republican politicians. 
 
 He has been criticized repeatedly for bad scholarship. According to People for the American Way, then-Republican Sen. Arlen Specter wrote in the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy in 1995 that Barton's arguments "range from the technical to the absurd" and "proceed from flawed and highly selective readings of both text and history." 
 
 The other two teachers have more traditional backgrounds: Louisiana State University professor James R. Stoner, Jr. and former Columbia Adjunct Associate Professor of Psychology and Education David L. Buckner. Available classes are "Faith," "Hope" and "Charity" 101, 102 and 103. 
 
 So how do you enroll at Beck University? By joining his "Insider Extreme" website at a cost of $9.95 per month or $74.95 for the year. A promotional page for the "Insider Extreme" subscription lays out what it offers beyond the normal "Insider" membership and features a variety of pictures of Beck mugging for the camera. 

 The assault on the Glenn Beck media empire over at Countdown continues, getting louder with every new wing of Beck, Inc. that opens. Last night, after seemingly exhausting the possibilities of attacking Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally, Keith Olbermann went for the newly minted Beck University– and online school with the motto “Revolution Against Tyrants; Submission to God.” 
 
 Olbermann explored the school’s crest imagery– a feather, George Washington, and a buffalo/”dead guy”– and made the requisite Goldline jokes, but didn’t limit his criticism to Beck. Describing the span of the school’s new professors as “from seemingly legitimate to off-the-charts cuckoo,” he tackled Prof. David Barton in particular, who he called a “pseudo-historian.” 
 
 But it always comes back to money, and his guest, Media Matters Senior Fellow Will Bunch, outlined what he believed to be Beck’s motives: 
 
 “There’s this quest I think for something to underlie this ‘I want my country back’ sense. They want to find some kind of intellectual underpinning to this, or some kind of historical underpinning, even if it means rewriting history. And I think Beck’s really tapping into that here, and he’s giving them something they want and they are giving him what he wants, which is cash.” 
 
 Video from last night’s Countdown below:
– Three words sure to strike fear, or maybe just ridicule, in the hearts of his enemies: Glenn Beck University. The Fox News host announces its launch on his website, though it's not exactly a university (despite a crest featuring George Washington's head). Think online lectures. As Beck puts it, his "experts will explore the concepts of Faith, Hope and Charity and show you how they influence America’s past, her present and most importantly her future." One of Beck's lecturers is David Barton, an evangelical minister who's not big on the separation of church and state and who has been frequently criticized for shoddy scholarship, reports CBS. He is, in fact,. a "pseudo-historian," says Keith Olbermann, who describes the lineup of professors as ranging "from seemingly legitimate to off-the-charts cuckoo," notes Mediaite, which has the video.