Well the East, and most of the countries there were already under Saurons power and in complete servitude, I guess thats the main reason.
Sauron was not feared by all, some countries in the East were enamoured with his power and happy to align with him for a little power of their own.
Most of the Nazgul, "who were once great kings of men", were kings from eastern countries that paid tribute to Mordor.
The Witch-King was actually of Numenorean race, which is the oldest and "highest" race of men in Middle-Earth.
Aragorn is also of Numenorean race, they differ from later "lesser" men in a few ways, such as power, foresight and a much longer life span. Aragorn was 88 during the LOTR and died a ripe old 210.

Gandalf had a purpose for being in Middle-Earth and that was to aid the free people of the world against the rising power in the East, since the Eastern countries were already under his sway, he was wise enough to know it was futile to go there, and dangerous.

Another reason could be because 2 of his kin went there and never returned.

There were 5 Istari sent to Middle-Earth, 3 of which feature in LOTR, Gandalf, Saruman, Radagast (breifly). The other 2 who were referred to as the Blue Wizards, not much is known about them except they set off into the East and never returned. Tolkein only hinted that they either perished or became slaves of Sauron. He also hinted that they might have been responsible for some of those kings becoming sorcerers and tyrants even before Sauron offered them rings of power.

I think Gandalf had a fear because of what befell to his kindred. He feared failing his quest and was always conscious of the dangers of envy, jealosy, pride, lust etc "Gandalf was not proud, and sought neither power nor praise... "
his ultimate fear was falling and becoming like Sauron, who was once a force for good and a Maia spirit, just like Gandalf.

( I suppose the whole jedi/dark side theme might be slightly similar, you could say Sauron, Saruman, The Blue Wizards fell to the dark side while Gandalf stayed true to the force)

Gandalf was sent to challenge Sauron by aiding and encouraging hope in men and elves - " for he was the Enemy of Sauron, opposing the fire that devours and wastes , with the fire that kindles and succours in wanhope and distress"

The power of Sauron was dispersed throughout all his slaves, from the Nazgul right down to the orcs. Thats why when the ring is destroyed all the orcs and trolls at the end start running away, the will that filled them with rage and hate was destroyed.
Gandalf had power he used in a lesser similar way, but not to hold dominion over anyone, only to bring hope and guidance.
A good example of this is King Theoden who is a broken down dispairing old man thanks to Saruman,  but after Gandalf heals him Theoden leads his army from the front and rides to face head on what seems to be hopeless battles.

Gandalf was the only Istari who stayed true to their mission, and in the end it revealed it was him who was the mover and the shaker, and he who spun the web that led to all the events in LOTR and secured the final victory.

My user name is Gandalfs true identity just to bore you some more.

"Many are my names in many countries, he said. Mithrandir among the Elves, Tharkun to the Dwarves; Olorin I was in my youth in the West that is forgotten, in the South Incanus, in the North Gandalf; to the East I go not."

Olorin was a spirit, kind of like an angel, sent from the land of the gods to aid men and elves against Sauron. He assumed the guise of a wise old man, as did Saruman and 3 others, and they were forbidden to use force against Sauron, only to guide and encourage the free people of the world to stand against him.
Sauron was actually also of the same kind, he rebelled ages before hand and became servant of the first Dark Lord, Morgoth. He was kind of like the devil.
The Balrog was a lesser angelic spirit which was moulded into that demon by Morgoth. There were more Balrogs in his time, and he also created the orcs.

Did anyone ever hear Viggos album that Buckethead played on?

I havnt I'm afraid, must have been a low key release, its hard enough to get Bucketheads albums here.

Oh god I could write an essay here! I'm too tired though, been out grafting all day.

I'll jot down some things tomorrow that bugged me (and many others!)

I'm not saying I dislike the films, cause I love them overall. I have all the extended versions, the soundtracks, extended soundtracks, seen the LOTR symphony orchestra in concert and still got my original cinema ticket stubs!!

I'm not daft enough not to realise they cant just film the book as it is, it was the "theatrical version" after all.
The Fellowship was probably the closest to Tolkien, but they were still some character/story changes regarding Gandalf, Saruman, Sauron, Arwen, Boromir, Elrond and Galadriel.

The next 2 films was worse in regards to reshaping characters and the running plot. If you were to bullet point the absolute key moments, mabye take 5 from each films, then yes its the same story. But there are things thrown in between that are pretty anoying to a Tolkien purist. Things that were included, and character changes that were straight out of a kind of, "painting by numbers type guide on making a big hollywood exciting movie".

Aragorn agrees

http://www.totalfilm.com/news/viggo-mor … the-hobbit

Nah. GN'R makes its own rules? Nah. Its actually laughable.
Hey mabye the new generation of kids will lap up catchy slogans like that, I dunno, but not this cynic.
For some reason I have an image of Ron on stage slugging a Jack Daniels bottle full of cold tea and giving a middle finger