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American Morning

Conversation with Archbishop Desmond Tutu; Discussion with Amy Fisher

Aired October 04, 2004 - 09:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: And as we check on the stories now in the news, we'll take you straight to Israel this morning with Daryn Kagan once again at the CNN Center.
Daryn, good morning.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Heidi, good morning.

Israel, in fact, is mounting one of its biggest offensives in Gaza. Israel forces are targeting insurgents in what they call "Operation Day of Repentance." Some 70 Palestinians have been killed in the last six days, including children. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the Arab League has condemned the Israeli attacks.

On the campaign trail here in the U.S., President Bush is signing the fourth tax cut of his administration this morning. The ceremony is about two hours from now in Des Moines, Iowa. The president is set to depart the White House momentarily.

Senator John Kerry is at a town hall meeting, meanwhile, in New Hampshire. He is backing government-funded stem cell research. Actor and activist Michael J. Fox is expected to attend.

John Lennon's killer may be safer if he stayed in prison. Mark David Chapman is up for parole this week, but fans of the Beatles member have threatened retribution if he's released. This is Chapman's third attempt for parole after he was found guilty of killing Lennon in 1980.

Heidi, back to you.

COLLINS: All right Daryn, what's coming up at 10:00?

KAGAN: Well, of course we're going to have all the action from the Mojave Desert and SpaceShipOne as it tries to make its historic attempt to make it into outer space.

Also, the Supreme Court, it is the first day, the first week back in October. We're going to look ahead and see how this might affect, depending on who wins the election. Who might be ending up on that court and who might not.

Back to you.

COLLINS: All right. A lot going on, indeed. Daryn, thanks so much for that -- Bill. BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: He has been a vocal critic of the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Now the Archbishop Desmond Tutu is using the stage as his pulpit. This weekend here in New York City, he appeared in an off-Broadway play about the plight of five British detainees at Gitmo. Archbishop Desmond Tutu my guest on AMERICAN MORNING.

And good morning.

ARCHBISHOP DESMOND TUTU, NOBEL PEACE PRIZE LAUREATE: Good morning.

TUTU: Nice to see you in person again.

HEMMER: What's the message onstage that you're trying to get out?

TUTU: That what is happening is totally beyond the rule of law, that it is, I think, a blot on American justice. And for some of us who come from South Africa and the apartheid regime, we are appalled to find that the great democracy that America is uses the same reasons and methods that the apartheid regime used.

HEMMER: I think you have said it's like deja vu for you.

TUTU: Yes.

HEMMER: How do you make that comparison?

TUTU: Well, you see, in South Africa you asked the apartheid government, why do you detain people without trial? Why do you put people under house arrest? Why do you subvert the rule of law? Why not use due process? If they are guilty, let them be found guilty by an open court.

HEMMER: You know very well in this country, this has been an ongoing question mark. Donald Rumsfeld, secretary of defense, said America is a nation at war, detaining enemy combatants is part of that war. He also went on to say that these detainees have not been mistreated or tortured. When it comes to the issue of war and fighting, essentially, terrorism, how do you come down on that argument?

TUTU: Absolutely. The point is that there are conventions. When you fight war, you don't just fight in any old way. If people are prisoners of war, then they are subject to the Geneva Convention. And always, always, you have to say -- we have to say someone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty. That is the essence of the rule of law. And this is being totally subverted. And to say that they are being well-treated, what does that mean, when you hear them say that they have been tortured, that they are in solitary confinement? Solitary confinement in our view is a gross violation of human rights.

HEMMER: In a much broader sense, why do you believe there is so much murder and so much destruction being committed in this world today, and done in God's name?

TUTU: Well, people always will want to use religion, whatever, I mean, people use religion in the Holocaust in Germany. The Ku Klux Klan here uses the cross as its symbol, and it is racist. When somebody says to you, you're religious, they're not praising (ph) you.

(LAUGHTER)

TUTU: We always want to make out that God belongs to one or other religion. God is not a Christian, nor is God a Muslim. All -- all are God's children. And we are not saying that it is important for this great country to abide by the rules of the game, that what has been happening is giving democracy even bad name.

HEMMER: Thank you for your time. I don't know how much longer the play is going to last. But thank you for sharing with us.

TUTU: God bless you.

HEMMER: Desmond Tutu, thank you.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: And still to come this morning, Amy Fisher, the Long Island Lolita, has a new life and a new name. She'll be joining us to talk about it, ahead.

HEMMER: Also counting down, a live picture now, Mojave Desert out there. The second launch of SpaceShipOne. If they do it, how close is Miles O'Brien going into space? We'll get you back out there live in a moment. Almost sunup in Southern California this morning, on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: It's time now for our Monday edition of "90-Second Pop". So, with us this morning to do that, Sarah Bernard, contributing editor for "New York" magazine.

Sarah, good morning.

SARAH BERNARD, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, "NEW YORK" MAGAZINE: Good morning.

COLLINS: B.J. Sigesmund, staff editor for "US Weekly."

B.J., hey.

B.J. SIGESMUND, STAFF EDITOR, "US WEEKLY": Hi.

COLLINS: And CNN entertainment reporter Sibila Vargas.

Thanks, guys, for being here.

SIBILA VARGAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: Hi.

COLLINS: B.J., let's start with you. "Saturday Night Live," 30th season, was it all it was cracked up to be?

SIGESMUND: Well, I thought, first of all, the biggest moment, of course, was the new weekend anchor, weekend update duo.

COLLINS: Yes. This is a first time.

SIGESMUND: Tina Fey and...

COLLINS: Two women, right?

SIGESMUND: Right, right. And Amy Poehler.

BERNARD: High fives. High fives.

COLLINS: Come on.

BERNARD: High fives for the women.

SIGESMUND: So, I thought it was particularly inspired, because as any SNL watcher from the last few years knows, the women have far outshined the guys. Not only are Tina Fey and Amy Poehler excellent, but Maya Rudolph has gotten famous for imitating Donna Tella Versace (ph), and also Rachel Dratch, who was Debbie Downer (ph) on Saturday night. I thought that these two were terrific.

BERNARD: Now, they've actually worked together a really long time. They were both in Chicago doing improv. And Tina Fey wrote a part for Amy Poehler in "Mean Girls."

SIGESMUND: Right, right.

BERNARD: So, they sort of have a history, and I think that's partially why it worked out.

VARGAS: For anyone to fill Jimmy Fallon's (ph) shoes, I mean, that stuff is pretty -- you know...

SIGESMUND: It is a big deal.

VARGAS: And I think she did such a great job. She showed confidence. She was cool. She was collected.

SIGESMUND: Right. As opposed to Ben Affleck. Ben Affleck had his moments. I thought him as James Carville was awesome. He really nailed that part.

VARGAS: He was awesome, yes.

SIGESMUND: He clearly had rehearsed it. He clearly has met Carville many times in his political doings this summer.

VARGAS: Yes.

SIGESMUND: His opening monologue, though, with Alec Baldwin was kind of weak, I thought.

COLLINS: A little dull, yes, I agree.

SIGESMUND: The last skit was kind of weak.

VARGAS: Really?

SIGESMUND: Yes.

VARGAS: I like Alec Baldwin. I think he's growing on me as an actor. He's more approachable now. So I felt like...

BERNARD: He is sort of like their special guest. Every time they need a little thing, they invite him on "Saturday Night Live."

SIGESMUND: Oh, yes. He has done it nine times.

(CROSSTALK)

BERNARD: I think he might even hold a record for that.

COLLINS: All right. Let's talk, Sarah, if we could, about this wedding that took place. We've got 55-year-old Billy Joel, his new what, wife now -- it would be a wife -- is 23 years old.

BERNARD: Fiance, girlfriend, wife. That's right.

COLLINS: Here's a picture.

BERNARD: That's their wedding shot.

COLLINS: They had a special guest at this wedding.

BERNARD: They had a bunch of special guests, actually. He -- well, somehow Alec Baldwin was in two places at once that same Saturday night. He was a guest at Billy Joel, and somehow he got on "Saturday Night Live." Donald Trump was there. I think Sting and Elton John couldn't make it, unfortunately.

COLLINS: Christie Brinkley.

BERNARD: But Christie Brinkley and her husband, Peter Cook (ph), were in the audience. And that is because Alexa Ray, who is Christie Brinkley and Billy Joel's daughter, was the maid of honor.

Now, Katie Lee, which is his new bride's name, is 23. She's a cooking student and a restaurant correspondent for a PBS show. She is obviously only four years older than Alexa.

COLLINS: Wow!

BERNARD: So, I don't know. Step-monster? What do you think?

VARGAS: I really hope it works out.

COLLINS: I was going to say, do you think it is going to last? VARGAS: You know what? I just hope that, you know, that it defies everything and that it really works, because this is a man who has been plagued by some tragedy. There has been a lot of car crashes that he's been in, and, you know...

SIGESMUND: Not to mention substance abuse problems.

VARGAS: Substance abuse, exactly. So, I just hope that, you know, this is real love, because this is the piano man and we love him! You know, we want to see him thrive. We want to see our living legends go on gracefully.

BERNARD: And I think we're OK for celebrity weddings for a while, because they always come in threes. And so there was Kevin Costner, then there was Britney...

COLLINS: Britney, yes.

BERNARD: ... and now Billy Joel. So, I think we're done for a while. "US Weekly" can take a break.

SIGESMUND: Yes, I don't think -- well...

COLLINS: All right, you guys, thanks so much for your insight on all of this today, Sarah Bernard, B.J. Sigesmund and Sibila, thanks so much, as always, guys -- Bill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

HEMMER: Before the break, a check on Wall Street right now, see how things are faring so far. Twelve minutes into the day. Stocks are up, as predicted by Gerri Willis just an hour ago. Up about 52 points, 10244 for the Dow 30. Good news for the market, too. Oil prices cooling off again, trading back below $50 a barrel. That's after rebels in Nigeria withdrew their threat to target that country's oil operations. So we will keep you posted, what's happening there throughout the day.

Also in a moment, Amy Fisher has spent years trying to stay away for the sensational tabloid headlines that made her a household name. We'll ask her why she's suddenly going public now, after the break. Also a live picture again from the Mojave Desert waiting for the second launch of SpaceShipOne.

Back in a moment, after this, on a Monday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: More than a decade after her life took a sharp tabloid turn, Amy Fisher, better known as the Long Island Lolita, is turning the page. She's learned a lot since going to prison as a teen for shooting her lover's wife. Now she's looking back and trying to put her sordid past behind her.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS (voice-over): At 17, Amy Fisher was the most talked- about teenager in America. Her affair with a married man, 36-year-old auto body shop owner Joey Buttafuoco, was the stuff of tabloid legend. In a crime of fashion, Fisher shot her lover's wife, leaving Mary Jo Buttafuoco for dead on her doorstep. At first, Joey denied their affair.

JOEY BUTTAFUOCO: Eighteen years ago in my high school yearbook, if you look it up, it says, I love Mary Jo. I've been in love with her for 18 years. And I still am.

COLLINS: And Mary Jo, who survived a gunshot to the head, stood by her husband.

MARY JO BUTTAFUOCO: I stand behind him 100 percent. This girl is an attempted murderer, a liar, a prostitute, and the d.a. is accepting her statements that she and Joe were together. Something's wrong here.

COLLINS: Amy Fisher pleaded guilty to reckless assault. She served seven years behind bars before her release from an upstate New York prison in 1999. The Buttafuoco's meanwhile, divorced in 2003.

As for Amy Fisher, she's come a long way from the Long Island Lolita. She's now a wife, a mother, with another child on the way, and a writer for a local Long Island newspaper.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: We are going to speak with Amy Fisher in just a moment. But first, we want to get quickly back to the Mojave Desert, where I think we have some action on the runway there and SpaceShipOne.

Miles O'Brien standing by to let us know what's happening -- Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Heidi, they have been cleared for takeoff. And as you can clearly see, White Night, the large gull- like craft, is now on the roll. It's going to come right by us. Beneath it, hanging beneath it -- look at that beautiful near-sunrise there, is SpaceShipOne with Brian Binnie as the pilot today. Flying White Night is Mike Melvill. The two craft are coming by me right now. They just rotated, and they have just taken off.

And, Heidi, as you will recall from the last go-around, it takes them about an hour to get up to altitude. They're aiming for 50,000 feet, at which time, when everything is checked out, and everybody's confident that everything is the way it should be, they will pull (ph) laps and SpaceShipOne will come off the belly of White Night. Brian Binnie, without too much delay, will fire that rocket motor, which is fueled by a combination of tire rubber and nitrous oxide, laughing gas. And off he will go on a no-laughing matter ride, almost straight up. It is hoped they will exceed the record set by the X-15 back in the early '60s, which was about 358,000 feet.

Joining me here just quickly with a few quick thoughts is Dick Rutan, brother of Burt Rutan, the designer and builder of the craft.

Everything sounds okay on the radio so for this morning, Dick?

DICK RUTAN: Everything sounds real fine. They had preflight briefing and everybody was there, and they didn't have any issues, and everybody was upbeat and ready to go.

O'BRIEN: It's a relatively calm team for such an audacious task, isn't it?

RUTAN: Well, they have a lot of good people. They've been working on it for many years. And everybody has a task to do. And this is a big one.

O'BRIEN: All right. This is the big one, Heidi. As we know, if they succeed today and reach that 100 kilometer point, 328,000 feet, they will qualify for that $10 million X Prize, and it could go a long way to changing the way people think about civilians one day flying in space.

Heidi, you going to go?

COLLINS: Sure, after you go, Miles.

And hey, before we let you go, Miles, we want to remind everybody, that you're blogging, right, on cnn.com?

O'BRIEN: I am blogging away. Yeah, I'm doing it right here on my little BlackBerry. My thumbs are already tired.

Go to cnn.com. And whenever I have a random thought or Dick has a random thought -- of course, I have to clean those up -- but I'll be blogging. And you can follow this whole thing if you like on cnn.com, in addition to watching us all this morning.

There's just one of the chase planes behind us right now.

COLLINS: All right. Well, it is fascinating stuff as we look at White Knight there and SpaceShipOne. SpaceShipOne will release, as Miles said, from the belly of that aircraft, and off they'll go. We'll keep our eye on it for you and get back to it here just as soon as we can.

But in the meantime, we do want to get back to our next guest. Amy Fisher, we've been talking about, she has a new life and a new name -- a new book, I should say, all about how she got where she is now. It is titled "If I Knew Then," and she is joining us now for more on this.

Just a moment before we went to the break and we went to Miles O'Brien there in the desert, we were showing some pictures way back to when all of this happened and pictures of Joey Buttafuoco and his wife. What do you feel inside when you are reminded of what happened?

AMY FISHER, AUTHOR, "IF I KNEW THEN": You know, I've seen those pictures so many times, especially over the past week, trying to get my message out about why I'm writing this book, and you know, something, you know, I want parents to read. And it's -- really it's a cautionary tale.

I turned the page on that. And the only reason I reflect back upon it is because I feel that my troubles as a young girl could be a benefit to somebody else. Other than that, you know, it really doesn't pertain to my life.

COLLINS: In fact, there have been an awful lot of offers for you to do interviews, for you to do other books. Probably times where you could have made quite a bit of money. But you said no to all of them. Why write this book now?

FISHER: Because I feel like I'm at a point in my own life where I'm happy, I'm stable. I have a great career. I have a great husband. I have a great child. And I feel like I could give something back, and like I said, somebody else can benefit from the tragedies that surrounded my life and the pain that I inflicted upon other people.

You know, there's so many young girls out there now that get involved with sexual predators. You know, the big thing I see now is the Internet, and teens thinking that they're talking to other teens, but they're really talking to 30, 40, 50-year-old men. And I want parents to know that, you know, I wasn't crazy, and this can happen to anybody.

COLLINS: Some people would probably dispute that, though, Amy. And in fact, it took a long time for you to take responsibility and realize what you had done. When was it that you realize you had really done something very, very wrong here?

FISHER: Well, I think it's a gradual process. It takes a long time to really, you know, come to terms with hurting something -- somebody in such a tragic, significant way.

You know, I don't know if you ever really come to terms with it. But like I said, I tried to put my life back together. And my book is more of a cautionary tale to other people out there that I feel can benefit from the things that I've experienced in my life.

COLLINS: In fact, you served -- a sentence, I should say, five to 15 years, you served seven of those years in prison. What happened to you there?

FISHER: People think prison is supposed to rehabilitate you, and you're supposed to emerge and be a better person. My own experience: It's torturous; it's painful. I got through it, and I emerged a stronger person.

COLLINS: There was quite a bit in your book about the prison guards, though, and things that happened to you in that prison at the time.

FISHER: Yeah. I put my experience of being in prison and being abused, and I was even raped in prison. I put this in the book so other people out there, when they read it -- not that they feel bad for me, but they get the message of do not do the things I did, do not go to the places I went. Because it was an awful experience and something that I hope that no other human being has to go to that place.

COLLINS: Remarkably, Mary Jo Buttafuoco forgave you. You wrote a letter to her. But what about you and Joey Buttafuoco? Do you have resentment toward him at this time in your life?

FISHER: To me, Joey Buttafuoco was a sexual predator. I was a 16-year-old girl. He was a man in his late 30s. That's not normal. It's not acceptable in our society -- or it shouldn't be. And you know, I feel nothing. He should be locked up in a prison where he can't hurt any other young girl for the rest of his life. But that's just my opinion.

COLLINS: Amy Fisher, thanks for your story here today on AMERICAN MORNING. We appreciate it.

FISHER: Thank you.

COLLINS: Bill, back to you.

HEMMER: Heidi, in a moment here on CNN, coming up next hour, Mount St. Helens grabbing an awful lot of attention today, both from the world of science and just from regular people who want to see history.

Earlier we were told it could go at any minute. We'll find out next hour with Daryn Kagan on "CNN LIVE TODAY."

AMERICAN MORNING is back in a moment after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: All right, before we get out of here -- Jack's on vacation -- Andy Borowitz helping us out now, the Question of the Day. Back with Andy now. Good morning.

ANDY BOROWITZ, BOROWITZREPORT.COM: Good morning.

And I asked: If Laura Bush debated Teresa Heinz Kerry, who would win and why?

Val writes: "I think a woman of the world would win over the Stepford wife every time." A little mean there.

Rob, from St. Thomas, writes: "I'm afraid Mrs. Bush would kick some rhetorical butt. Mrs. Bush, the ex-librarian, would tell Mrs. Heinz Kerry to 'shelve it' all the while flashing her sweet, motherly smile."

And finally, Russ from Florida writes: "Instead of a debate, I think they ought to have a celebrity reality boxing match such as Tonya Harding and Paula Jones had." That would settle the whole thing. HEMMER: Sure. Reading "The Book of Shockers" here, Ridge warns Americans not to swim too soon after eating.

BOROWITZ: Yes. Very important.

HEMMER: Bush wanted to invade Iraq back in college.

BOROWITZ: Yes, that's true. He's been obsessed with Iraq.

HEMMER: See you, Andy.

BOROWITZ: Thank you.

COLLINS: Thanks, Andy.

BOROWITZ: Thanks.

HEMMER: We got to run. Daryn Kagan is at the CNN Center, taking you through the next hour with Mount St. Helens. We have back to the Mojave Desert.

Is that right, Daryn? Good morning.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Lot of west coast action today. Yes.

COLLINS: True.

KAGAN: There's a lot of other news, too. You guys have a great day...

COLLINS: You, too, Daryn.

KAGAN: ... in New York City. We'll get started.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com


Aired October 4, 2004 - 09:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: And as we check on the stories now in the news, we'll take you straight to Israel this morning with Daryn Kagan once again at the CNN Center.
Daryn, good morning.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Heidi, good morning.

Israel, in fact, is mounting one of its biggest offensives in Gaza. Israel forces are targeting insurgents in what they call "Operation Day of Repentance." Some 70 Palestinians have been killed in the last six days, including children. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the Arab League has condemned the Israeli attacks.

On the campaign trail here in the U.S., President Bush is signing the fourth tax cut of his administration this morning. The ceremony is about two hours from now in Des Moines, Iowa. The president is set to depart the White House momentarily.

Senator John Kerry is at a town hall meeting, meanwhile, in New Hampshire. He is backing government-funded stem cell research. Actor and activist Michael J. Fox is expected to attend.

John Lennon's killer may be safer if he stayed in prison. Mark David Chapman is up for parole this week, but fans of the Beatles member have threatened retribution if he's released. This is Chapman's third attempt for parole after he was found guilty of killing Lennon in 1980.

Heidi, back to you.

COLLINS: All right Daryn, what's coming up at 10:00?

KAGAN: Well, of course we're going to have all the action from the Mojave Desert and SpaceShipOne as it tries to make its historic attempt to make it into outer space.

Also, the Supreme Court, it is the first day, the first week back in October. We're going to look ahead and see how this might affect, depending on who wins the election. Who might be ending up on that court and who might not.

Back to you.

COLLINS: All right. A lot going on, indeed. Daryn, thanks so much for that -- Bill. BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: He has been a vocal critic of the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Now the Archbishop Desmond Tutu is using the stage as his pulpit. This weekend here in New York City, he appeared in an off-Broadway play about the plight of five British detainees at Gitmo. Archbishop Desmond Tutu my guest on AMERICAN MORNING.

And good morning.

ARCHBISHOP DESMOND TUTU, NOBEL PEACE PRIZE LAUREATE: Good morning.

TUTU: Nice to see you in person again.

HEMMER: What's the message onstage that you're trying to get out?

TUTU: That what is happening is totally beyond the rule of law, that it is, I think, a blot on American justice. And for some of us who come from South Africa and the apartheid regime, we are appalled to find that the great democracy that America is uses the same reasons and methods that the apartheid regime used.

HEMMER: I think you have said it's like deja vu for you.

TUTU: Yes.

HEMMER: How do you make that comparison?

TUTU: Well, you see, in South Africa you asked the apartheid government, why do you detain people without trial? Why do you put people under house arrest? Why do you subvert the rule of law? Why not use due process? If they are guilty, let them be found guilty by an open court.

HEMMER: You know very well in this country, this has been an ongoing question mark. Donald Rumsfeld, secretary of defense, said America is a nation at war, detaining enemy combatants is part of that war. He also went on to say that these detainees have not been mistreated or tortured. When it comes to the issue of war and fighting, essentially, terrorism, how do you come down on that argument?

TUTU: Absolutely. The point is that there are conventions. When you fight war, you don't just fight in any old way. If people are prisoners of war, then they are subject to the Geneva Convention. And always, always, you have to say -- we have to say someone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty. That is the essence of the rule of law. And this is being totally subverted. And to say that they are being well-treated, what does that mean, when you hear them say that they have been tortured, that they are in solitary confinement? Solitary confinement in our view is a gross violation of human rights.

HEMMER: In a much broader sense, why do you believe there is so much murder and so much destruction being committed in this world today, and done in God's name?

TUTU: Well, people always will want to use religion, whatever, I mean, people use religion in the Holocaust in Germany. The Ku Klux Klan here uses the cross as its symbol, and it is racist. When somebody says to you, you're religious, they're not praising (ph) you.

(LAUGHTER)

TUTU: We always want to make out that God belongs to one or other religion. God is not a Christian, nor is God a Muslim. All -- all are God's children. And we are not saying that it is important for this great country to abide by the rules of the game, that what has been happening is giving democracy even bad name.

HEMMER: Thank you for your time. I don't know how much longer the play is going to last. But thank you for sharing with us.

TUTU: God bless you.

HEMMER: Desmond Tutu, thank you.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: And still to come this morning, Amy Fisher, the Long Island Lolita, has a new life and a new name. She'll be joining us to talk about it, ahead.

HEMMER: Also counting down, a live picture now, Mojave Desert out there. The second launch of SpaceShipOne. If they do it, how close is Miles O'Brien going into space? We'll get you back out there live in a moment. Almost sunup in Southern California this morning, on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: It's time now for our Monday edition of "90-Second Pop". So, with us this morning to do that, Sarah Bernard, contributing editor for "New York" magazine.

Sarah, good morning.

SARAH BERNARD, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, "NEW YORK" MAGAZINE: Good morning.

COLLINS: B.J. Sigesmund, staff editor for "US Weekly."

B.J., hey.

B.J. SIGESMUND, STAFF EDITOR, "US WEEKLY": Hi.

COLLINS: And CNN entertainment reporter Sibila Vargas.

Thanks, guys, for being here.

SIBILA VARGAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: Hi.

COLLINS: B.J., let's start with you. "Saturday Night Live," 30th season, was it all it was cracked up to be?

SIGESMUND: Well, I thought, first of all, the biggest moment, of course, was the new weekend anchor, weekend update duo.

COLLINS: Yes. This is a first time.

SIGESMUND: Tina Fey and...

COLLINS: Two women, right?

SIGESMUND: Right, right. And Amy Poehler.

BERNARD: High fives. High fives.

COLLINS: Come on.

BERNARD: High fives for the women.

SIGESMUND: So, I thought it was particularly inspired, because as any SNL watcher from the last few years knows, the women have far outshined the guys. Not only are Tina Fey and Amy Poehler excellent, but Maya Rudolph has gotten famous for imitating Donna Tella Versace (ph), and also Rachel Dratch, who was Debbie Downer (ph) on Saturday night. I thought that these two were terrific.

BERNARD: Now, they've actually worked together a really long time. They were both in Chicago doing improv. And Tina Fey wrote a part for Amy Poehler in "Mean Girls."

SIGESMUND: Right, right.

BERNARD: So, they sort of have a history, and I think that's partially why it worked out.

VARGAS: For anyone to fill Jimmy Fallon's (ph) shoes, I mean, that stuff is pretty -- you know...

SIGESMUND: It is a big deal.

VARGAS: And I think she did such a great job. She showed confidence. She was cool. She was collected.

SIGESMUND: Right. As opposed to Ben Affleck. Ben Affleck had his moments. I thought him as James Carville was awesome. He really nailed that part.

VARGAS: He was awesome, yes.

SIGESMUND: He clearly had rehearsed it. He clearly has met Carville many times in his political doings this summer.

VARGAS: Yes.

SIGESMUND: His opening monologue, though, with Alec Baldwin was kind of weak, I thought.

COLLINS: A little dull, yes, I agree.

SIGESMUND: The last skit was kind of weak.

VARGAS: Really?

SIGESMUND: Yes.

VARGAS: I like Alec Baldwin. I think he's growing on me as an actor. He's more approachable now. So I felt like...

BERNARD: He is sort of like their special guest. Every time they need a little thing, they invite him on "Saturday Night Live."

SIGESMUND: Oh, yes. He has done it nine times.

(CROSSTALK)

BERNARD: I think he might even hold a record for that.

COLLINS: All right. Let's talk, Sarah, if we could, about this wedding that took place. We've got 55-year-old Billy Joel, his new what, wife now -- it would be a wife -- is 23 years old.

BERNARD: Fiance, girlfriend, wife. That's right.

COLLINS: Here's a picture.

BERNARD: That's their wedding shot.

COLLINS: They had a special guest at this wedding.

BERNARD: They had a bunch of special guests, actually. He -- well, somehow Alec Baldwin was in two places at once that same Saturday night. He was a guest at Billy Joel, and somehow he got on "Saturday Night Live." Donald Trump was there. I think Sting and Elton John couldn't make it, unfortunately.

COLLINS: Christie Brinkley.

BERNARD: But Christie Brinkley and her husband, Peter Cook (ph), were in the audience. And that is because Alexa Ray, who is Christie Brinkley and Billy Joel's daughter, was the maid of honor.

Now, Katie Lee, which is his new bride's name, is 23. She's a cooking student and a restaurant correspondent for a PBS show. She is obviously only four years older than Alexa.

COLLINS: Wow!

BERNARD: So, I don't know. Step-monster? What do you think?

VARGAS: I really hope it works out.

COLLINS: I was going to say, do you think it is going to last? VARGAS: You know what? I just hope that, you know, that it defies everything and that it really works, because this is a man who has been plagued by some tragedy. There has been a lot of car crashes that he's been in, and, you know...

SIGESMUND: Not to mention substance abuse problems.

VARGAS: Substance abuse, exactly. So, I just hope that, you know, this is real love, because this is the piano man and we love him! You know, we want to see him thrive. We want to see our living legends go on gracefully.

BERNARD: And I think we're OK for celebrity weddings for a while, because they always come in threes. And so there was Kevin Costner, then there was Britney...

COLLINS: Britney, yes.

BERNARD: ... and now Billy Joel. So, I think we're done for a while. "US Weekly" can take a break.

SIGESMUND: Yes, I don't think -- well...

COLLINS: All right, you guys, thanks so much for your insight on all of this today, Sarah Bernard, B.J. Sigesmund and Sibila, thanks so much, as always, guys -- Bill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

HEMMER: Before the break, a check on Wall Street right now, see how things are faring so far. Twelve minutes into the day. Stocks are up, as predicted by Gerri Willis just an hour ago. Up about 52 points, 10244 for the Dow 30. Good news for the market, too. Oil prices cooling off again, trading back below $50 a barrel. That's after rebels in Nigeria withdrew their threat to target that country's oil operations. So we will keep you posted, what's happening there throughout the day.

Also in a moment, Amy Fisher has spent years trying to stay away for the sensational tabloid headlines that made her a household name. We'll ask her why she's suddenly going public now, after the break. Also a live picture again from the Mojave Desert waiting for the second launch of SpaceShipOne.

Back in a moment, after this, on a Monday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: More than a decade after her life took a sharp tabloid turn, Amy Fisher, better known as the Long Island Lolita, is turning the page. She's learned a lot since going to prison as a teen for shooting her lover's wife. Now she's looking back and trying to put her sordid past behind her.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS (voice-over): At 17, Amy Fisher was the most talked- about teenager in America. Her affair with a married man, 36-year-old auto body shop owner Joey Buttafuoco, was the stuff of tabloid legend. In a crime of fashion, Fisher shot her lover's wife, leaving Mary Jo Buttafuoco for dead on her doorstep. At first, Joey denied their affair.

JOEY BUTTAFUOCO: Eighteen years ago in my high school yearbook, if you look it up, it says, I love Mary Jo. I've been in love with her for 18 years. And I still am.

COLLINS: And Mary Jo, who survived a gunshot to the head, stood by her husband.

MARY JO BUTTAFUOCO: I stand behind him 100 percent. This girl is an attempted murderer, a liar, a prostitute, and the d.a. is accepting her statements that she and Joe were together. Something's wrong here.

COLLINS: Amy Fisher pleaded guilty to reckless assault. She served seven years behind bars before her release from an upstate New York prison in 1999. The Buttafuoco's meanwhile, divorced in 2003.

As for Amy Fisher, she's come a long way from the Long Island Lolita. She's now a wife, a mother, with another child on the way, and a writer for a local Long Island newspaper.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: We are going to speak with Amy Fisher in just a moment. But first, we want to get quickly back to the Mojave Desert, where I think we have some action on the runway there and SpaceShipOne.

Miles O'Brien standing by to let us know what's happening -- Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Heidi, they have been cleared for takeoff. And as you can clearly see, White Night, the large gull- like craft, is now on the roll. It's going to come right by us. Beneath it, hanging beneath it -- look at that beautiful near-sunrise there, is SpaceShipOne with Brian Binnie as the pilot today. Flying White Night is Mike Melvill. The two craft are coming by me right now. They just rotated, and they have just taken off.

And, Heidi, as you will recall from the last go-around, it takes them about an hour to get up to altitude. They're aiming for 50,000 feet, at which time, when everything is checked out, and everybody's confident that everything is the way it should be, they will pull (ph) laps and SpaceShipOne will come off the belly of White Night. Brian Binnie, without too much delay, will fire that rocket motor, which is fueled by a combination of tire rubber and nitrous oxide, laughing gas. And off he will go on a no-laughing matter ride, almost straight up. It is hoped they will exceed the record set by the X-15 back in the early '60s, which was about 358,000 feet.

Joining me here just quickly with a few quick thoughts is Dick Rutan, brother of Burt Rutan, the designer and builder of the craft.

Everything sounds okay on the radio so for this morning, Dick?

DICK RUTAN: Everything sounds real fine. They had preflight briefing and everybody was there, and they didn't have any issues, and everybody was upbeat and ready to go.

O'BRIEN: It's a relatively calm team for such an audacious task, isn't it?

RUTAN: Well, they have a lot of good people. They've been working on it for many years. And everybody has a task to do. And this is a big one.

O'BRIEN: All right. This is the big one, Heidi. As we know, if they succeed today and reach that 100 kilometer point, 328,000 feet, they will qualify for that $10 million X Prize, and it could go a long way to changing the way people think about civilians one day flying in space.

Heidi, you going to go?

COLLINS: Sure, after you go, Miles.

And hey, before we let you go, Miles, we want to remind everybody, that you're blogging, right, on cnn.com?

O'BRIEN: I am blogging away. Yeah, I'm doing it right here on my little BlackBerry. My thumbs are already tired.

Go to cnn.com. And whenever I have a random thought or Dick has a random thought -- of course, I have to clean those up -- but I'll be blogging. And you can follow this whole thing if you like on cnn.com, in addition to watching us all this morning.

There's just one of the chase planes behind us right now.

COLLINS: All right. Well, it is fascinating stuff as we look at White Knight there and SpaceShipOne. SpaceShipOne will release, as Miles said, from the belly of that aircraft, and off they'll go. We'll keep our eye on it for you and get back to it here just as soon as we can.

But in the meantime, we do want to get back to our next guest. Amy Fisher, we've been talking about, she has a new life and a new name -- a new book, I should say, all about how she got where she is now. It is titled "If I Knew Then," and she is joining us now for more on this.

Just a moment before we went to the break and we went to Miles O'Brien there in the desert, we were showing some pictures way back to when all of this happened and pictures of Joey Buttafuoco and his wife. What do you feel inside when you are reminded of what happened?

AMY FISHER, AUTHOR, "IF I KNEW THEN": You know, I've seen those pictures so many times, especially over the past week, trying to get my message out about why I'm writing this book, and you know, something, you know, I want parents to read. And it's -- really it's a cautionary tale.

I turned the page on that. And the only reason I reflect back upon it is because I feel that my troubles as a young girl could be a benefit to somebody else. Other than that, you know, it really doesn't pertain to my life.

COLLINS: In fact, there have been an awful lot of offers for you to do interviews, for you to do other books. Probably times where you could have made quite a bit of money. But you said no to all of them. Why write this book now?

FISHER: Because I feel like I'm at a point in my own life where I'm happy, I'm stable. I have a great career. I have a great husband. I have a great child. And I feel like I could give something back, and like I said, somebody else can benefit from the tragedies that surrounded my life and the pain that I inflicted upon other people.

You know, there's so many young girls out there now that get involved with sexual predators. You know, the big thing I see now is the Internet, and teens thinking that they're talking to other teens, but they're really talking to 30, 40, 50-year-old men. And I want parents to know that, you know, I wasn't crazy, and this can happen to anybody.

COLLINS: Some people would probably dispute that, though, Amy. And in fact, it took a long time for you to take responsibility and realize what you had done. When was it that you realize you had really done something very, very wrong here?

FISHER: Well, I think it's a gradual process. It takes a long time to really, you know, come to terms with hurting something -- somebody in such a tragic, significant way.

You know, I don't know if you ever really come to terms with it. But like I said, I tried to put my life back together. And my book is more of a cautionary tale to other people out there that I feel can benefit from the things that I've experienced in my life.

COLLINS: In fact, you served -- a sentence, I should say, five to 15 years, you served seven of those years in prison. What happened to you there?

FISHER: People think prison is supposed to rehabilitate you, and you're supposed to emerge and be a better person. My own experience: It's torturous; it's painful. I got through it, and I emerged a stronger person.

COLLINS: There was quite a bit in your book about the prison guards, though, and things that happened to you in that prison at the time.

FISHER: Yeah. I put my experience of being in prison and being abused, and I was even raped in prison. I put this in the book so other people out there, when they read it -- not that they feel bad for me, but they get the message of do not do the things I did, do not go to the places I went. Because it was an awful experience and something that I hope that no other human being has to go to that place.

COLLINS: Remarkably, Mary Jo Buttafuoco forgave you. You wrote a letter to her. But what about you and Joey Buttafuoco? Do you have resentment toward him at this time in your life?

FISHER: To me, Joey Buttafuoco was a sexual predator. I was a 16-year-old girl. He was a man in his late 30s. That's not normal. It's not acceptable in our society -- or it shouldn't be. And you know, I feel nothing. He should be locked up in a prison where he can't hurt any other young girl for the rest of his life. But that's just my opinion.

COLLINS: Amy Fisher, thanks for your story here today on AMERICAN MORNING. We appreciate it.

FISHER: Thank you.

COLLINS: Bill, back to you.

HEMMER: Heidi, in a moment here on CNN, coming up next hour, Mount St. Helens grabbing an awful lot of attention today, both from the world of science and just from regular people who want to see history.

Earlier we were told it could go at any minute. We'll find out next hour with Daryn Kagan on "CNN LIVE TODAY."

AMERICAN MORNING is back in a moment after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: All right, before we get out of here -- Jack's on vacation -- Andy Borowitz helping us out now, the Question of the Day. Back with Andy now. Good morning.

ANDY BOROWITZ, BOROWITZREPORT.COM: Good morning.

And I asked: If Laura Bush debated Teresa Heinz Kerry, who would win and why?

Val writes: "I think a woman of the world would win over the Stepford wife every time." A little mean there.

Rob, from St. Thomas, writes: "I'm afraid Mrs. Bush would kick some rhetorical butt. Mrs. Bush, the ex-librarian, would tell Mrs. Heinz Kerry to 'shelve it' all the while flashing her sweet, motherly smile."

And finally, Russ from Florida writes: "Instead of a debate, I think they ought to have a celebrity reality boxing match such as Tonya Harding and Paula Jones had." That would settle the whole thing. HEMMER: Sure. Reading "The Book of Shockers" here, Ridge warns Americans not to swim too soon after eating.

BOROWITZ: Yes. Very important.

HEMMER: Bush wanted to invade Iraq back in college.

BOROWITZ: Yes, that's true. He's been obsessed with Iraq.

HEMMER: See you, Andy.

BOROWITZ: Thank you.

COLLINS: Thanks, Andy.

BOROWITZ: Thanks.

HEMMER: We got to run. Daryn Kagan is at the CNN Center, taking you through the next hour with Mount St. Helens. We have back to the Mojave Desert.

Is that right, Daryn? Good morning.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Lot of west coast action today. Yes.

COLLINS: True.

KAGAN: There's a lot of other news, too. You guys have a great day...

COLLINS: You, too, Daryn.

KAGAN: ... in New York City. We'll get started.

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