CoinDesk's API has been published (they got back to me with a link).

The api is listed at http://www.coindesk.com/api/

I was able to set mine up with Exchange URL:
http://api.coindesk.com/v1/bpi/currentprice/USD.json

and JSON key:
rate

You can also specify other currencies in place of USD above. 
It seems to work fairly well and I'm glad to have the option to display a composite bitcoin value without the need to choose an exchange.

ok, so I contacted them and received this response.

Hopefully they will let us know soon.

Now that coindesk has developed its own Bitcoin Price Index at http://www.coindesk.com/price/ does anyone know if there is a way to use their exchange rate?

That is a helpful quantification of the issue.  And the linked post (and its linked posts) completely round out the discussion.  Thanks.

@BTC Books
The Connect= argument is something I didn't think about.  Anyone who makes it outside the country will be able to quickly propagate their known longer chain within the country - and the problem would be temporarily solved.

But the other answers do confirm my fears that, in one of the places you need bitcoin the most (i.e. in a repressive country) it becomes very dangerous to rely upon bitcoin transactions.  Double spends become real possibilities for someone who can travel or personally access the outside.  As a merchant receiving BTC in this kind of country, I would have very little knowledge and no control over whether my coins might someday just disappear.

So I guess I have to dig deeper into my initial assumptions to know how real this possibility really is.

Is the assumption in the Bitcoin community that governments can't really shut things down effectively enough to cut Bitcoin off (with things like encryption, tor, occasionally walking a USB across the border, etc.)?

It just doesn't sit right with me that there was such intense concern over the (minor and short-lived) fork on Monday.  Especially if governments could effectively force a network fork within their region.  I'm sure many governments couldn't fracture the blockchain without crippling a large part of their own economy at the same time - the internet is just too deeply connected.  But repressive, desperate countries may - and that puts a chink in the "robustness" promise for me.

After learning about the 0.7, 0.8 mishap last night, I heard one of the knows-what-he's-talking-about people describe the situation as a fork, but not a "network fork" - both chains were still receiving all of the new transactions and it will all settle out - "be still my children", or something like that.

That got me to thinking.  I can see how we can / will recover from the current situation.  But how would bitcoin recover if it was a true network style fork.

As an example, let's say bitcoin catches on in Iran (but it could be anywhere) and we are now a couple years down the road, with miners both inside and outside the country.  Now, we have seen repressive regimes truly firewall their countries.  They may very well have reason to prevent blockchain content from leaving / entering the country, but blockchain activity within the country would still go on.

This would be a "network fork", right?

What would happen when the floodgates finally opened again and the two sides were allowed to talk to each other - after, say, a year or more of growth.  Wouldn't the shorter block be completely wiped out - instantly?

Just thinking...