How many vetoes will we override between now and January '09? Want to see the Weekly Reid on it's global warming soapbox? How about some Reid video? Reid On!

Nevada First: Overridden! Big news out of the Senate last week. By a whopping margin, the Senate overrode President Bush's veto of the Farm Bill. The Weekly Reid won't go into the tortured logic Bush used to justify vetoing the bill. We're all tightening our purse strings as a result of the Bush-McCain economic policies, and low-income Americans are shouldering an even heavier burden. In rural Nevada, the rising cost of healthy food is taking its toll on the neediest of our fellow citizens (see Senator Reid's op-ed in the Reno Gazette Journal) Democrats used the Farm Bill to bring much needed relief to rural America - confirming once again we stand up for struggling families.

Let's take a look at what the override would do:

-- Provide $10 over the next 10 years for nutritional programs to help millions of families afford healthy food.

-- Provide $1.2 billion over the same period to help food banks replenish their pantries.

-- Raise the minimum food stamp benefit from $10 to $14 - the first increase in 3 decades.

Oh, and the bill would cap payments to absentee farmers who don't need the subsides.

Like we said, we're not going to bore you with the tortured logic used to justify the President's veto. We'll just tip our hat to James Madison, and say, "Thanks for the Checks and Balances."

Must Reid: Veto Proof (Again). The Weekly Reid is happy to report that the 21st Century GI Bill passed last week, as a part of the supplemental war funding bill. The bill passed with a veto proof majority: 75-22 (it's a testament to the sad state we're in when we need to qualify this bill as "veto proof"). Noticeably absent? John McCain. Who said he'd vote against it anyway.

Against? Yes. He objects to the amount of money spent in the bill (for things like extending unemployment benefits) and says the GI education benefits would discourage troops who wish to reenlist. Forget the fact that we owe America's bravest a full ride and a diploma. And forget that the biggest deterrent to reenlistment is the failed strategy of Bush-McCain in Iraq.

On a related note, 25 Republicans broke ranks with the President and John McCain on this bill. 25. What does that say about John McCain as the new leader of the GOP? What about the president's influence? Leave it up to Senator Reid to, in just a few words, capture the dismal state of the Bush-McCain role in domestic and foreign policy, "What influence?"

Soapbox Time. When the Senate returns next week, they'll take up the Climate Change Bill. We usually think about global warming in terms of crazy weather patterns, super storms and melting glaciers. But an important part of fighting global warming is preventing the humanitarian crisis that comes along with the longer, drier summers and severe storms. For example, with hotter summers and longer droughts, and as farmland dries up, people (especially in developing countries) flock to big cities - cities that don't have the infrastructure in place to support a population explosion. Diseases run rampant and clean water becomes tougher to find. Next comes a food crisis in these big cities. A recent study by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that global warming will likely lead to 40 to 170 million people being malnourished in the coming decades. So the next time a winger tells you global warming ain't a problem, take away his sandwich and tell him people are starving.

Reid's Watching: Recess TeeVee. Two quick video links for you. Senator Reid was on "This Week" with George Stephanopoulos a few weeks ago. Watch the video here. And the good Senator was interviewed by the Wall Street Journal. Check out the video here.