Talk:American Samoa

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American Samoa does have 3 Active Duty United States Coast Guard assigned to it in addition the commanding officer if the Army Reserve unit is active duty. Heather 12 Sep 2006

Is there a reason why the currency says USD and points to the Lek (Albanian currency)? I am changing it to the dollar in the mean time. --Dori 01:07, 20 Sep 2003 (UTC)

The legal status is not very clear (the link to "territory" is not of very much help)

Of all the pages concerning insular areas of the United States, this is the only one without a table of contents and current geographical, demographic, political, economic etc. info. It'd be nice if it were edited to match. --Geenius at Wrok 04:34, Apr 6, 2005 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] The American Samoa and the Independent State of Samoa

Is there any movement for a unification of the two areas? Everton 10:20, 8 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] "See also" section

Since this page has a lot of CIA Factbook links and not a lot of original information, I sorted the links under a See Also section. Once we get more text for the article, we can sort it into the headings that most U.S. Territories have - Politics, Geography, &c. Lovelac7 02:51, 1 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Photo

Come on. You make it hard to believe you are sincere in wanting to add information to this article when you insist on messing it up. Maybe put the photo under "History of Samoa" (I moved it to Manua, Samoa) or start a separate article, but it really is not appropriate here, especially formatted that way - Marshman 04:15, 27 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Buildings?

Mike is certainly correct about the locations of the government. I'm unclear if Fagatogo is the capital in law (he says it is, so I'm going to accept that). His explanation is very satisfactory from my experience in American Samoa. To call Fagatogo and Utulei "buildings" demonstrates a lack of knowledge of the place. - Marshman 18:36, 12 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Proof that Fagatogo is American Samoa's Capital

Many thanks to Marshman for the assist.

Mr. Covington: I'm curious as to why you attempted to revert my edit. What is your proof that Fagatogo and Utulei are simply buildings? If you check Article 5, Section 9, of American Samoa's constitution (http://www.house.gov/faleomavaega/samoan-constitution.shtml), you will see that Fagatogo is the constitutionally designated seat of government. Additionally, if Fagatogo and Utulei are just buildings, they are pretty darn big according to the US Government's Census Bureau map (http://www2.census.gov/geo/maps/cong_dist/cd108_gen/ind_pdf/American_Samoa/AS_CD01.pdf). Lastly, please reference the Encyclopedia Britannica and (if I'm not mistaken) the Europa World Year Book; you will see that these respected sources also list Fagatogo as the capital.

Please see the Wikipedia entry on Pago Pago, where is states: "Pago Pago is actually but one of several villages along the shore of the harbor and is located at the very back (inside) of the embayment. However, because the name Pago Pago is associated with the harbor itself—the only significant port of call in American Samoa—Pago Pago is now generally applied to the harbor area and the capital. Thus, both the port itself and the legislature of American Samoa—known as the Fono—are located in Fagatogo, a village that is adjacent to (and for all practical purposes indistinguishable from) Pago Pago." Mike Beidler 06:39, 14 January 2006 (UTC)

All of that is factual. I've been there many times, the last visit in October 2005. - Marshman 02:06, 14 January 2006 (UTC)
Marshman, if you know how to change the capital toward the very bottom of the entry, I'd be greatly appreciative! Mike Beidler 06:39, 14 January 2006 (UTC)
Done - Marshman 19:50, 16 January 2006 (UTC)
How did you do that? I've been wracking my keyboard trying to figure it out. Mike Beidler 14:36, 17 January 2006 (UTC)
In "edit" mode you will find a listing of the templates used in the article near the bottom of the page. When you click on the one you want to edit, it will bring it up as it appears on that page. You then go into edit mode on that template page to make changes. - Marshman 17:09, 17 January 2006 (UTC)
Excellent! Thanks, Marshman. Mike Beidler 19:52, 19 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Infomancy's Edit

Infomancy, your edit was a complete obliteration of previous user's contributions. Thus, I have reverted it back to what it was prior to your involvment. Feel free to add your sports trivia back in, but do not make your edits appear to be all that was involved. When you are editing to the degree you did, we would prefer your discuss your proposed edits here.

Mike Beidler 17:47, 6 February 2006 (UTC)

Mike, thank you for correcting what was a silly mistake I made. I had not realized that when "editing" from a history comparison page it edits an old version of the page. I was following a link to the page from another source and wasn't accessing the article directly. I see now that my changes were indeed not good and I appreciate your correcting the errors. Thank you also for limiting your ruder comments to my user page. You may have noticed, however, that it wasn't sports triva I was adding but rather a citation to a random fact tossed off in the article's Trivia section "It has been estimated that a Samoan male (either an American Samoan, or a Samoan living in the 50 United States) is 40 times more likely to play in the NFL than a non-Samoan American." One of the major concerns with Wikipedia is the lack of attribution for quotes exactly like this. That concern is heightened when quotes like this are picked up in Reuter's news articles. So after this public discussion, I would like to propose that attribution to a 2002 article from ESPN found online at http://espn.go.com/gen/s/2002/0527/1387626.html be added back in to this article as per the directions found just under this edit box dictating that "content must not violate any copyright and must be verifiable." Again, I apologize for my failure to realize that editing from the comparison page I was intially led to would result in the editing of an older version of the page. Infomancy 18:25, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

Infomancy: No problem on adding the trivia attribution. You are certainly welcome to add to the fun! Apologies if my "ruder comments" left on your Talk page sounded somewhat, um, rude. I had just gotten back from 11 time zones and 27 hours' worth of international travel, so I was probably pretty loopy at that point and full of irritation at the airlines for losing my luggage. Of course, no excuse for leaving a nasty-gram in your mailbox.  ;-) --Mike Beidler 18:15, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

Edit made for citation. I don't spend a lot of time editing here, so am always learning. I do, however, enjoy the benefits of everyone's work and try to be a strong advocate for Wikipedia in the school library world where the site sometimes takes quite a beating. Infomancy 18:25, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Missing

There is no general data here on the demographics or population of this area.

[edit] Island's future status

It has a constitution, yet it is an "unorganized territory"? Why is it considered "unorganized" when it seems to have a self-orderly government? There's people there, and they don't seem to be living in any state of anarchy. What are the plans of the US government for disposition of American Samoa, and what are the Samoans' goals? Do they want independence? Do they want to be like Puerto Rico, a commonwealth associated with the US? It would be nice if the article included information on whatever discussions have taken place, among Samoans and with Washington, on where they will go in the future. Same for Guam, the Virgin Islands. GBC 16:21, 16 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Fagatogo...Not The Capital?

The CIA Factbook states otherwise. --MosheA 14:19, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

  • All due respect, MosheA, the CIA Factbook is not always right. Numerous reference books much more accurate than the CIA Factbook (which is a beloved favorite of mine) actually do list Fagatogo. When you also consider that the American Samoan constitution itself states that Fagatogo is the capital, ya gotta wonder ... Mike Beidler 02:21, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Trivia on non-citizen nationality not correct

"Persons born in American Samoa are United States nationals, but not United States citizens. This is the only circumstance under which an individual would be one and not the other."

The bolded part doesn't seem to be correct. According to the US Department of State's website this status is confered on persons born in American Samoa and Swains Island. Also, a child of a US non-citizen national who satisfies some residency requirements is also a US non-citizen national. --Pawelz 18:22, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

If you are aware that it is inncorrect don;t hesistate to change it. Ronan.evans 10:20, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, I changed it. I'm new to this wiki game. --Pawelz 02:43, 27 July 2006 (UTC)
Er, isn't Swains Island part of American Samoa? Surely saying "born in American Samoa" includes people born on Swains. --Jfruh (talk) 17:31, 11 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] world cup trivia

"On April 11, 2001 in a World Cup qualifying match, American Samoa was beaten 31-0 by Australia." "World Cup" of what sport?

I fixed that for you. By the way it was assosiation football (soccer)! Comedy240

[edit] Squidoo Lens On American Samoa

I am working on a new Squidoo lens for American Samoa. I have been able to gather some very interesting video and pictures. The url is www.squidoo.com/travel_samoa/ Visit American Samoa.

[edit] Fagatogo Is Not The Capital

Although Fagatogo is the official seat of government, Pago Pago is the capital. The official seat of governmet is not always located in the capital of a country.

Correct. According to the Constitution, Fagatogo is designated the seat of government, not the capital. According to every other source, Pago Pago is the capital. American Patriot 1776 21:33, 23 February 2007 (UTC)
"Every other source"??? That's a bit of a stretch, no? Here is what the Encyclopedia Brittanica gives for American Samoa's capital: Fagatogo (legislative/judicial) and Utulei (executive), with the following note on Fagatogo: "The seat of the legislature, as defined by the Constitution of American Samoa, is at Fagatogo, one of a number of villages within an urban agglomeration collectively known as Pago Pago." Other written sources that designate Fagatogo as the capital include the Europa World Year Book. An extremely reliable online reference source, worldstatesmen.org, also lists Fagatogo. Here is what the US Dept of Insular Affairs website states: "The largest and most populated island in American Samoa is Tutuila, on which are located the territory's historic capital (Pago Pago), the seat of its legislature and judiciary (Fagatogo) and the office of the Governor (Utulei)." It's debatable, as you can see; heck, just Google "American Samoa"/Fagatogo/Capital and see what pops up. My proposal is that all three cities be mentioned in the American Samoa, Pago Pago, Fagatogo, and Utulei entries. I can generate a blurb that will cover everything from a NPOV. --Mike Beidler 23:06, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Locator map

This article needs a locator showing the position of the territory in the world. -- Beland 00:34, 17 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] demographics

This section really needs work; it sounds awful. I edited it to make the numbers consistent with what's in the infobox, but I don't know enough to actually make it right. KarlM 08:38, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Unorganized status?

It is a commonplace that American Samoa is an unorganized territory, which, in the context of US law, means that Congress has not established an Organic Act establishing a system of government for it. Nevertheless, the territory has a constitution, which raises the question of under what authority that constitution was established. Was it simply signed off on by the Dept. of the Interior without Congressional action? --Jfruh (talk) 17:30, 11 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] User sm, User smo

Are there no templates like Template:User sm, Template:User smo, Template:User smo-3? ... It's not for me ;-) --Roland2 07:58, 4 August 2007 (UTC)

I have looked at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Wikipedians_by_language . It would not appear that there are. :( Chris 02:43, 13 August 2007 (UTC)