All the rights and privileges of personhood with none of the responsibilities and ethics pertaining thereto

Good grief, could the case be more clearly stated for enacting dramatic campaign finance reforms--indeed, for completely publicly-financing our elections--and curtailing, if not outright reversing, the ill-considered, inexplicable, and nefarious accordance of First Amendment free-speech protections to voiceless, inanimate entities like corporations?

As Congress investigated its role in the doomed Deep Horizon oil rig, Halliburton donated $17,000 to candidates running for federal office, giving money to several lawmakers on committees that have launched inquiries into the massive spill.

The Texas-based oil giant’s political action committee made 14 contributions during the month of May, according to a federal campaign report filed Wednesday — 13 to Republicans and one to a Democrat. It was the busiest donation month for Halliburton’s PAC since September 2008.

Of the 10 current members of Congress who got money from Halliburton in May, seven are on committees with oversight of the oil spill and its aftermath.

Halliburton’s political contributions in May are the highest they’ve been since September 2009, when the PAC also gave $17,000 in donations. In fact, the last time the company gave more than $17,000 in one month was when it donated $25,000 during the heat of the presidential campaign in September 2008.