Hi Jack,
There's no shame in trying to see if Apple will take care of it for you. Chances are slim to none that it will work, but who knows -- they may take pity on your case.
The [product|IF180-000|replacement glass] for the iPad is currently $150, and that still won't fix the dent on the body. You may want to consider selling your iPad to someone who may not necessarily care about the scratch'n'dent, and then use that money to get yourself another second-hand iPad that's in a better shape. I think it all really depends on how much money you stand to lose by selling it vs. investing time and money to fix a cosmetic scratch.
I know you said that "this cannot be 'brushed off/live with it'," but trust me -- it gets easier over time. I dropped my Droid about six months ago with the same result: it started falling towards concrete, but I managed to kick it into a bush. At the end of the ordeal, I had a nice 1/4" scratch across the screen, but the phone was intact otherwise. I lambasted myself for days for dropping the Droid; but then I realized the phone was now marred, and I didn't have to be as frantically careful with it as I was beforehand.
So consider that as well: now you can keep the iPad in your Five-Star binder, not spend extra dough on a case, and use it how you want to use it without having to fear dropping it again. And if you do drop it a second time and the screen cracks, then you don't have to replace the screen twice :)