Customizing/changing/reordering bottom links ($links)

Hi,

I've been looking for a way to customize the bottom links for hours now.
It's very surprising to me that I couldn't find any easy way to do this, since this is a very basic feature of any kind of content (service links, comments, etc.). I really love Drupal's flexibility and this is the first hard bump on the road.

Basically what I want to accomplish is control over the $links:
- Changing the text that appears before service links.
- Removing view/read count.
- Changing the order of the items.

Can anyone specify how to do this and give an example?

Thanks!