I hope their RMA department has stopped intentionally bending pins in the CPU socket to avoid having to replace the boards for their customers. I'll never buy from them again.
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1694667

I guess you'll just have to use one of the many other apps that have been around for years that already do this without needing to be signed into your google account.

Either set up a backup number for sending codes to that is your significant other's or a someone else you trust, or print out backup codes and keep them somewhere safe.

That is surprising. My GS3 has no problem getting through a day of streaming audio, light wifi tethering, email, and browsing. What does it say is using the bulk of the battery? Are you running a custom ROM?
I've used stock, JellyWiz, and currently Carbon 1.5. Had some battery life issues with one version of JellyWiz, but otherwise it's been great.

There are apps like pdroid that can do this (root required). In my experience, it broke basic functionality of the apps when you denied certain permissions so I wouldn't expect it to ever be standard part of android. Too easy for non-expert users to break things. App developers would need to account for it and build it into the app (don't hold your breath).

The US can exert more of a force on the UN from within, rather than trying to reform it from the outside. That's all I got.

If you bothered to RTFA you'd realize that the chair rotates among all the nations and North Korea will only hold it until August 19th.