Best way to obtain/earn bitcoins
Mining was never supposed to be profitable. And it's a derivative of bitcoin which is already risky speculation.

Don't add the extra, annoying risk-without-an-upside of wondering whether BFL will ship your machine in time to turn a profit. Even they state that there's no guarantee that their machines are profitable.

If you are sure that the price of bitcoin will go up, or even if you're not sure and you just want to take a bigger risk with more money, just buy more bitcoin.