"fossil record that dated back only thousands of years"
Dating techniques all rely on assumptions.
"Or perhaps a whole galaxy forming out of nothing since the days of Galileo."
I'm not following that one...so if this happened you'd believe in a young earth?
"Then there is still that pesky issue of the speed of light . ."
what about it?...the speed of light would have been multiplied by the rate of space expansion....(light would have been stretched by expanding space)....