> Why can't I just use a credit card or similar and buy bitcoints?
Chargebacks are the reason. If you buy a bitcoin with a credit card and I send you a bitcoin, you can get your money back from the credit card company and keep my bitcoin.
> Right now basically every week we have news of millions of dollars worth of bitcoins being stolen from sites.
Rule 1: If you store your bitcoins with someone else, they'll most likely get stolen. People need to learn how to store their own bitcoins or they'll end up not having any.
Paper wallets using offline-created Bitcoin addresses are the safest means of storage. I etched my keys onto metal dogtags and have them stored in a fireproof box.
> "Our first priority is to keep Americans safe from the threat of terrorism."
Uh, no. The first job of a good, decent government is protect the rights of its citizens. It now seems that the first job of a citizen is protect him/herself from the government.
Which scammer is paying me for my bitcoins out of someone else's promised profits?