Remotely brick a stolen phone If my phone is lost or stolen, can I remotely and permanently brick my phone. This way, not only is my data secure, but the resale value of the phone plummets to zero.

Tangential question: can apps like Lookout or Prey be disabled by phone thieves?
It's certainly possible to remote-brick a phone.  In fact, you might be able to use Tasker in conjunction with Mobile Odin or similar to remotely softbrick a Samsung device by flashing bad firmware after a text message, or something.  Of course these devices are also easy to unbrick; to brick them more permanently you'd need to flash a bad bootloader.  Chainfire has said that Mobile Odin can but won't flash bootloaders, so perhaps it could just be modified.

Bad bootloaders can be fixed sometimes if you have the appropriate hardware, but I doubt any petty thief would have it.  Most won't be able to fix a softbrick either.

Any app can be disabled, pretty easily too if you know what you're doing.

Importantly, though, I wouldn't do this.  All it does is guarantee that you can't get the phone back (you can't track it anymore) or that if you get it back, it won't work.  You should just install tracking software instead.  Remote bricking won't deter a thief who doesn't know about it, and while I see the revenge aspect it's not as good as catching them!