diff --git a/lib/puppet/application/inspect.rb b/lib/puppet/application/inspect.rb
index caa32a7c2..342b8daae 100644
--- a/lib/puppet/application/inspect.rb
+++ b/lib/puppet/application/inspect.rb
@@ -1,82 +1,86 @@
 require 'puppet/application'
 
 class Puppet::Application::Inspect < Puppet::Application
 
   should_parse_config
   run_mode :agent
 
   option("--debug","-d")
   option("--verbose","-v")
 
   option("--logdest LOGDEST", "-l") do |arg|
     begin
       Puppet::Util::Log.newdestination(arg)
       options[:logset] = true
     rescue => detail
       $stderr.puts detail.to_s
     end
   end
 
   def setup
     exit(Puppet.settings.print_configs ? 0 : 1) if Puppet.settings.print_configs?
 
     raise "Inspect requires reporting to be enabled. Set report=true in puppet.conf to enable reporting." unless Puppet[:report]
 
     @report = Puppet::Transaction::Report.new("inspect")
 
     Puppet::Util::Log.newdestination(@report)
     Puppet::Util::Log.newdestination(:console) unless options[:logset]
 
     trap(:INT) do
       $stderr.puts "Exiting"
       exit(1)
     end
 
     if options[:debug]
       Puppet::Util::Log.level = :debug
     elsif options[:verbose]
       Puppet::Util::Log.level = :info
     end
 
     Puppet::Transaction::Report.terminus_class = :rest
     Puppet::Resource::Catalog.terminus_class = :yaml
   end
 
   def run_command
     retrieval_starttime = Time.now
 
     unless catalog = Puppet::Resource::Catalog.find(Puppet[:certname])
       raise "Could not find catalog for #{Puppet[:certname]}"
     end
 
     @report.configuration_version = catalog.version
 
     retrieval_time =  Time.now - retrieval_starttime
     @report.add_times("config_retrieval", retrieval_time)
 
     starttime = Time.now
 
     catalog.to_ral.resources.each do |ral_resource|
       audited_attributes = ral_resource[:audit]
       next unless audited_attributes
 
       audited_resource = ral_resource.to_resource
 
       status = Puppet::Resource::Status.new(ral_resource)
       audited_attributes.each do |name|
-        event = ral_resource.event(:previous_value => audited_resource[name], :property => name, :status => "audit", :message => "inspected value is #{audited_resource[name].inspect}")
-        status.add_event(event)
+        next if audited_resource[name].nil?
+        # Skip :absent properties of :absent resources. Really, it would be nicer if the RAL returned nil for those, but it doesn't. ~JW
+        if name == :ensure or audited_resource[:ensure] != :absent or audited_resource[name] != :absent
+          event = ral_resource.event(:previous_value => audited_resource[name], :property => name, :status => "audit", :message => "inspected value is #{audited_resource[name].inspect}")
+          status.add_event(event)
+        end
       end
       @report.add_resource_status(status)
     end
 
     @report.add_metric(:time, {"config_retrieval" => retrieval_time, "inspect" => Time.now - starttime})
 
     begin
       @report.save
     rescue => detail
       puts detail.backtrace if Puppet[:trace]
       Puppet.err "Could not send report: #{detail}"
     end
   end
 end
diff --git a/lib/puppet/reports/http.rb b/lib/puppet/reports/http.rb
index 7ac54dfbd..101c8e0cb 100644
--- a/lib/puppet/reports/http.rb
+++ b/lib/puppet/reports/http.rb
@@ -1,22 +1,22 @@
 require 'puppet'
 require 'net/http'
 require 'uri'
 
 Puppet::Reports.register_report(:http) do
 
   desc <<-DESC
   Send report information via HTTP to the `reporturl`. Each host sends
   its report as a YAML dump and this sends this YAML to a client via HTTP POST.
   The YAML is the `report` parameter of the request."
   DESC
 
   def process
     url = URI.parse(Puppet[:reporturl])
     req = Net::HTTP::Post.new(url.path)
     req.body = self.to_yaml
     req.content_type = "application/x-yaml"
-    Net::HTTP.new(url.host, url.port).start {|http|
+    p Net::HTTP.new(url.host, url.port).start {|http|
       http.request(req)
     }
   end
 end
diff --git a/spec/unit/application/inspect_spec.rb b/spec/unit/application/inspect_spec.rb
index a3cc74d86..b931708c3 100644
--- a/spec/unit/application/inspect_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/unit/application/inspect_spec.rb
@@ -1,79 +1,102 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env ruby
 
 require File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/../../spec_helper'
 
 require 'puppet/application/inspect'
 require 'puppet/resource/catalog'
 require 'puppet/indirector/catalog/yaml'
 require 'puppet/indirector/report/rest'
 
 describe Puppet::Application::Inspect do
   before :each do
     @inspect = Puppet::Application[:inspect]
   end
 
   describe "during setup" do
     it "should print its configuration if asked" do
       Puppet[:configprint] = "all"
 
       Puppet.settings.expects(:print_configs).returns(true)
       lambda { @inspect.setup }.should raise_error(SystemExit)
     end
 
     it "should fail if reporting is turned off" do
       Puppet[:report] = false
       lambda { @inspect.setup }.should raise_error(/report=true/)
     end
   end
 
   describe "when executing" do
     before :each do
       Puppet[:report] = true
       Puppet::Util::Log.stubs(:newdestination)
       Puppet::Transaction::Report::Rest.any_instance.stubs(:save)
       @inspect.setup
     end
 
     it "should retrieve the local catalog" do
       Puppet::Resource::Catalog::Yaml.any_instance.expects(:find).with {|request| request.key == Puppet[:certname] }.returns(Puppet::Resource::Catalog.new)
 
       @inspect.run_command
     end
 
     it "should save the report to REST" do
       Puppet::Resource::Catalog::Yaml.any_instance.stubs(:find).returns(Puppet::Resource::Catalog.new)
       Puppet::Transaction::Report::Rest.any_instance.expects(:save).with {|request| request.instance.host == Puppet[:certname] }
 
       @inspect.run_command
     end
 
     it "should audit the specified properties" do
       catalog = Puppet::Resource::Catalog.new
       file = Tempfile.new("foo")
       file.puts("file contents")
-      file.flush
+      file.close
       resource = Puppet::Resource.new(:file, file.path, :parameters => {:audit => "all"})
       catalog.add_resource(resource)
       Puppet::Resource::Catalog::Yaml.any_instance.stubs(:find).returns(catalog)
 
       events = nil
 
       Puppet::Transaction::Report::Rest.any_instance.expects(:save).with do |request|
         events = request.instance.resource_statuses.values.first.events
       end
 
       @inspect.run_command
 
       properties = events.inject({}) do |property_values, event|
         property_values.merge(event.property => event.previous_value)
       end
       properties["ensure"].should == :file
       properties["content"].should == "{md5}#{Digest::MD5.hexdigest("file contents\n")}"
+      properties.has_key?("target").should == false
+    end
+
+    it "should not report irrelevent attributes if the resource is absent" do
+      catalog = Puppet::Resource::Catalog.new
+      file = Tempfile.new("foo")
+      resource = Puppet::Resource.new(:file, file.path, :parameters => {:audit => "all"})
+      file.delete
+      catalog.add_resource(resource)
+      Puppet::Resource::Catalog::Yaml.any_instance.stubs(:find).returns(catalog)
+
+      events = nil
+
+      Puppet::Transaction::Report::Rest.any_instance.expects(:save).with do |request|
+        events = request.instance.resource_statuses.values.first.events
+      end
+
+      @inspect.run_command
+
+      properties = events.inject({}) do |property_values, event|
+        property_values.merge(event.property => event.previous_value)
+      end
+      properties.should == {"ensure" => :absent}
     end
   end
 
   after :all do
     Puppet::Resource::Catalog.indirection.reset_terminus_class
     Puppet::Transaction::Report.indirection.terminus_class = :processor
   end
 end