Assigning keymaps / menu shorts / changing menu items

[David Reitter]

I would like to do a couple of global-set-keys for a few basic 
functions that appear in the menu bar. However, the new shortcuts don't 
appear in the menu items, since they are still assigned (and should 
be).

I understand the menu item shortcuts show what's defined first. Is 
there a command like global-set-key that would insert the new keymap at 
the beginning of the list associated with the function? Here's what I 
do:

(global-set-key [(alt v)] 'yank)

'yank has a menu entry in the Edit menu that currently says "Paste 
(C-y)".

Also, I would like to change the way the keyboard shortcuts appear in 
the menu. Can I redefine a function to do that? What would that be?

Lastly: how do I change a menu item?
I know how to add submenus to a menu with easychange.el, but I couldn't 
figure out how to actually change the text of an arbitrary item. Is 
that possible?

I've been looking for something like that in various places - maybe 
someone here could give me a hint regarding any of these things, I'd be 
very grateful.