I was thinking did the emblems or writing on the side of the temple match the symbols on hatch countdown clock just prior to implosion?

Symbols on countdown

http://img66.imageshack.us/img66/2830/heiroglyphs2zt.jpg

Also were there strange symbols on the door Ben opened to "summon smokey"?

This would seem to me to point out that Dharma knew lots and lots about the Island prior to their arrival. I had thought in the past that they knew only a little and the Island had shocked them into how "weird" it was and they had built several of the hatches to try and control it. Now I think as many do that Widmore came to know as much as Ben and returned with Dharma to control the Island. How else would the symbols be the same or even similar?

The "others" now seem to be the guardians of the Island. Dharma are essentially Widmore and thus bad. However I would not put it past the writers to through in another layer of strangeness where Jacob is "bad" along with Richard Alpert and they are both manipulating not just Locke but Ben as well. People are never just plain evil, often they are mad and believe their actions are just and not evil. Even great dictators such as Stalin believed they were doing the right thing; their madness prompted them to act in a way which normal sane people believed to be evil. My point is maybe Widmore knows a secret we the viewer do not and he is trying to right a perceived wrong. In the end the others did gas at least 200 mostly innocent people.

Many of the others acts are clearly evil at worst and against human rights at best.

Maybe we need to call in the UN to sort this little mess out. ;o)

I've definitely seen what you are describing, but I think in the end we will see that one side is "good" and thinks the ends justify the means. Maybe once someone uses Just methods to repel the threat of Widmore, the island will rise up with them (maybe in the form of somkey?).