Add me to those who don't think Verizon is the bad guy here. Or at least not to the extent many are painting them to be.
Here's what I think a lot of you are missing: VZW doesn't owe you anything. They are not in the Galaxy Nexus business. As far as they're concerned, they're biggest priority is to provide hardware and service that appeals to as wide a swath of people as possible. Whether you want to accept this or not, Nexus phones are a niche product. The majority of consumers don't know and honestly don't care about a Nexus vs a Rezound vs a RAZR. Verizon probably feels the same. They're interested in what's available at that moment, the instant they step into a store - and those are the phones that Verizon is most interested in, those they can sell RIGHT NOW. Many folks want either the iPhone or "the iPhone with a bigger screen." We're not the folks VZW caters to, and they shouldn't. We're a tiny minority.
It sucks, yeah. We live and die by these phones and follow every piece of info like a case we're trying to crack. So we become so immersed in it the whole world starts looking like it's conspiring against releasing this device. In actuality, it's just not an issue.
Just my 0.02. I completely sympathize with everyone waiting for this device and hope you get what you want as soon as possible. It's Christmas time, everyone wants their new favorite toy NOW.